Asian Geographic - 08.2018

35

Woolly mammoths – the Ice Age giants that

capture our imagination in movies and books –

live on today in the rainforests of South Asia.

Whether revered as a god, used for

labour, or roaming free in isolated pockets

of wilderness, their closest cousin, the

Asian elephant, possesses the same majestic

characteristics: an awe-inspiring size and a set

of massive to-the-ground tusks, each weighing

70 kilograms and up to three metres long. The

tusks are key, for only specimens with these

ploughing spears of ivory may assume the title

“great tusker”.

Compared to their African and woolly Arctic

cousins, Asian tuskers have slightly slimmer,

lighter and shorter teeth. Where big tuskers

once ruled the Asian elephant’s range from Sri

Lanka to China, years of “man-made reverse

selection” (as opposed to natural selection)

have stripped these bulls of their tusks, creating

a large imbalance in the natural ratio of great

tuskers to maknas, or elephants with small or

non-existent tusks.

Bull elephants reach their prime late in life,

at about 40 or 50 years old. This is the same

time that their tusks see exponential growth.

Tusks are useful: They debark trees, dig for

water, defend against opponents, and impress

the ladies. Big tusks are a sign of superior genes,

0 cm

Makna

elephant evolution:

tusk lengths

long life and health; females prefer males with

big tusks to father their offspring.

But the targeting of tusks for ivory by

trophy hunters and poachers, and the practice

of systematically catching wild bulls and

isolating them in captivity, have locked away

these formidable genes. Less than half the

Asian elephant population survived the last

two decades, and today, only some 40 great

tuskers exist – about 30 African and 10 Asian.

Of the latter, just one lonely animal remains

in the wild. But even captive great tuskers lack

proper reproductive opportunities, meaning

their DNA is quickly vanishing from the

species’ genetic pool.

Preserving this iconic tusk strain for future

generations, and reversing the effect of human

influence, requires an effort almost as massive

as the tusks themselves. Quality surveillance,

constant armed guards, adequate medical

treatment, and targeted artificial insemination

programmes need to be put in motion for

great tuskers – and potentially emerging great

tuskers – to conserve their breed and restore

natural tusk length. With cave paintings, bones

and frozen tissue as all that remains of the

prehistoric mammoths, this may be our last

chance to preserve Nature’s original design of

the glorious pachyderm. ag

200 cm

Great Tusker

400 cm

Woolly Mammoth

ILLUSTRATIONS ADAPTED FROM SHUTTERSTOCK