News

Some elephants are evolving to have no tusks as a response to brutal poaching

Published

5 years ago

2021/10/23

This image of a tranquilised tuskless female elephant in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park was taken while genetic samples were collected in 2018.

An elephant’s tusks are among its defining features — they help the animal lift heavy branches, topple trees, strip bark, fight, and dig holes for water and minerals.

But an increasing proportion of elephants in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park have been born without these crucial tools, and scientists say it is an evolutionary response to the brutal killing of elephants for their ivory tusks during the country’s 15-year civil war.

Elephant experts working in the park had begun to notice the phenomenon after the war ended in 1992. Field data and analysis of old video footage from the park found that the proportion of tuskless female elephants increased more than threefold between 1972 and the year 2000. It was a period during which the elephant population plummeted from roughly 2,000 to about 250 individuals, said Ryan Long, an associate professor of wildlife sciences at the University of Idaho.

“During the war, Gorongosa was essentially the geographic centre of the conflict,” Long said via email. “As a result there were large numbers of soldiers in the area and a lot of associated motivation… to kill elephants and sell the ivory to purchase arms and ammunition. The resulting level of poaching was very intense.”

Genetic signature

Scientists now have a better understanding of the genetic basis for this tusklessness and why it only appears to affect female elephants, according to a study that published in the journal Science on Thursday.

The analysis showed that tuskless females were over five times more likely to survive during the 28-year period than their tusked female counterparts, hence the adaptation was very unlikely to be a chance occurrence.

Tusklessness does occur naturally — and only in females — even in the absence of poaching, but usually only in a small minority of elephants. In Gorongosa in the 1970s, 18.5% of female elephants didn’t have tusks, while three decades later 51% did.

“Evolution is simply a change in heritable characteristics within a population over successive generations, and based on the results of our study, the shift toward tusklessness among female elephants at Gorongosa fits this definition perfectly,” said Long, an author of the study.

“The fact that it occurred so rapidly is rare indeed, and is a direct function of the strength of selection,” he said via email. “In other words, it happened so quickly because tuskless females had a MUCH higher probability of surviving the war, and thus a MUCH greater potential for passing their genes on to the next generation.

But what about the male elephants? After taking blood samples of 18 female elephants, with and without tusks, the researchers sequenced their genomes. They found that the females with no tusks had a genetic variation in a very specific region of the X-chromosome, which plays a role in tusk development.

“Females have 2 X chromosomes. In tuskless females, one of those chromosomes is ‘normal’ and the other contains the deleted information,” Long explained.

“When a tuskless female conceives a male offspring, that male has a 50/50 shot of receiving the affected X-chromosome from its mother. If it receives the ‘normal’ chromosome then it will survive and be born with the necessary genetic information to produce tusks.”

However, if the male elephant fetus receives the chromosome with the genetic variant, it dies in the womb because the variant that produces tusklessness females is lethal to males, Long said.

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News

Navy renders assistance to bring injured fisherman ashore

Published

8 hours ago

2026/05/29

Priyan

The Sri Lanka Navy demonstrated its commitment to maritime safety by assisting to bring ashore an injured fisherman and rushing him for urgent medical attention on Thursday (28 May 2026)

The fisherman was aboard a local multiday fishing trawler off the south coast and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo coordinated the retrieval of the fisherman.

Reportedly, the multi-day fishing trawler had departed from the Kudawella Fisheries Harbour on 05th May with 06 fishermen. While engaged in fishing activities approximately 730 nautical miles off the south coast, one of the crew members suffered an injury.

Following a formal request for assistance, through MRCC Colombo, the Merchant Vessel ‘Dong Fang Wei Ye’ sailing in the nearby sea area had been informed to retrieve the patient. In a rapid response, the Navy dispatched a craft attached to the Southern Naval Command to the designated sea area where the Merchant Vessel was stationed to transfer the fisherman.

Upon transferring the injured fisherman from the Merchant Vessel, naval personnel provided essential first aid to the injured person before swiftly bringing him to the Galle Harbour And safely transferred him to the National Hospital, Galle.

News

Applications called to recruit 400 public officers as Digital Champions for the Public Impact Champions Network

Published

8 hours ago

2026/05/29

Priyan

As a key component of the Government’s Digital Economy Plan aimed at enhancing the quality and efficiency of the public sector system, an awareness programme for coordinating executive officers of public institutions was held on Wednesday (27) at the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). The programme marked the first step towards establishing the “Public Impact Champions Network” (PIC-NET), an institutional pilot network intended to drive the optimisation of public services through the digitalisation of public institutions.

During the programme, heads of institutions were informed to submit applications from officers currently serving in public institutions who possess the capability and capacity to represent the “Champions Corps” in spearheading digital transformation, in accordance with Circular PS/ADA/Circular/3/2026.

Chairman of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka and Senior Adviser to the President on the Digital Economy, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, stated that the Government aims to increase Sri Lanka’s digitally empowered economy from its current level of 3% to 12% by 2030.

He further explained that the development of the digital economy is a process aimed at improving efficiency, quality and revenue generation through the use of communication technology in economic activities.

Pointing out how the digital economy has expanded in every developed state, Dr Hans Wijayasuriya noted that the slow growth of the digital economy remains a serious challenge faced by Third World countries. However, he stated that India is currently achieving remarkable progress in digital economic development and that elevating Sri Lanka’s digital economy to a prominent level alongside such developments is one of the Government’s principal objectives.

Dr Hans Wijayasuriya also pointed out that this digital economic growth must take place simultaneously across nearly all public institutions. Accordingly, within the next three years, the coordination and management of transactions among public institutions are expected to function in a fully networked manner similar to banking operations.

He further emphasised that the support of both public institutions and the country’s citizens as a whole would be crucial for the successful implementation of this extensive technological transformation across all public institutions over the next few years.

Ranil Peiris of the Department of Information Technology at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura briefed those present on the foundation of the PIC-NET programme and its future plans.

He explained that, in the future, citizens would be able to access services such as applying for passports and renewing licences entirely online from their homes. He further pointed out that this system would eliminate the need for citizens to repeatedly provide the same information.

Representatives of KPMG also presented the future action plan relating to the selection and training of officers.

Representing the Presidential Secretariat, Sameera Wickremasinghe further briefed participants on the mechanism for calling applications.

The necessary guidance and coordination support for this public sector digitalisation programme are being provided with the support of the Presidential Secretariat, the Ministry of Digital Economy, GovTech Sri Lanka and the Asian Development Bank.

(PMD)

Foreign News

Mother-in-law of Indian bride whose death set off media frenzy arrested

Published

9 hours ago

2026/05/29

Priyan

Twisha Sharma was found dead in her marital home on 12 May [BBC]

India’s top anti-crime agency has arrested the mother-in-law of an Indian woman whose death has sparked conflicting claims of murder and suicide.

Twisha Sharma’s parents and siblings have alleged that she was tortured by her lawyer husband, Samarth Singh, and his mother – retired judge Giribala Singh – over dowry demands and that she was murdered, allegations they have denied.

The 33-year-old model and actor had been married for just five months when she was found dead in her matrimonial home in Madhya Pradesh state’s Bhopal city on 12 May.

On Thursday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Giribala Singh after questioning her for several hours.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court had earlier cancelled her anticipatory bail, finding that a trial court had ignored key evidence and witness testimony.

Following Twisha’s death, the police had registered a case of dowry death against the Singhs. Earlier this week, the investigation was taken over by the CBI.

Twisha’s death has made national headlines and has once against brought the issue of dowry deaths into the spotlight. Every year, thousands of women are murdered for bringing in insufficient dowries, even though the practice was banned in 1961.

The case has drawn significant attention because of the family’s prominence. Twisha was a former beauty pageant winner and actor, while her husband and mother-in-law were lawyers.

Twisha’s parents allege that dowry-related harassment began soon after her marriage to Singh. They also claim that when she became pregnant, Singh and his mother accused her of infidelity and forced her to terminate the pregnancy.

The Singhs deny the allegations, saying Twisha had mental health issues and took her own life. They also contend that the decision to terminate the pregnancy was hers.

Singh is currently in police custody. He had reportedly absconded after Twisha’s death and was arrested by police in Jabalpur on 22 May.

Twisha was cremated on Sunday after a second autopsy. Her family had alleged that the first post-mortem was flawed and accused the police of a cover-up, a charge the police denied.

[BBC]