https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tuskless-elephants-evolution-poaching
Charlotte Van Ness October 21, 2021
Chemistry C Current Event 5
Missing bibliographic citation and hyperlink to article
The article, “Tuskless elephants became common as an evolutionary response to
poachers,” by Jake Buehler, investigates the effect poaching has on modern elephants.
The poaching of elephants has taken place ever since the 1700s, primarily in Africa.
Today, elephants are physically changing in response to excessive and unnecessary
amounts of poaching in the world. From the 1970s-1990s, during the Mozambican
Civil War, “armies hunted elephants and other wildlife for food and ivory. This caused
the number of large herbivores to drop more than 90 percent in the country’s Gorongosa
National Park”(Buehler). As shown in the previous quote, decades after decades of poaching
have forced these animals to react to the violent crime. This significant factor of our
environment has to be brought to attention and seen by the public.
Society, is the primary cause of this depressing outcome. The main purpose for
poaching elephants, is because of the value that lies within their tusks. The tusks are
made of ivory, a hard white material, that is currently in international high-demand.
Researchers estimate that ivory is worth over $4,000, per kg, or 2.2lbs.
This information could carry out a cataclysmic effect on society. Evolutionary biologist,
Shane Campbell-Staton of Princeton University says, “Poaching ‘changing the course
of evolution’ in Gorongosa’s elephants, can have reverberating effects through the
ecosystem given elephants’ dramatic impact on their surroundings” (Buehler).
Not only could this effect be catastrophic now, but also in the future, and worsen if
not attended to.
The author does an incredible job establishing the point from the start of the article.
From there, he includes lots of important information that is key to understanding the topic.
There was lots of supported evidence from scientists and researchers, along with accurate
statistics. Something that could be improved upon is the amount of information that relates
to what is being done, and what could be done to support the issue.
Paris Zhang
ReplyDeleteMr.Ippolito
10/25/2021
Current Event 7 (Comment)
Buehler, Jake. “Tuskless Elephants Became Common as an Evolutionary Response to Poachers.” Science News, 21 Oct. 2021, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tuskless-elephants-evolution-poaching.
https://bhscorechem.blogspot.com/2021/10/tuskless-elephants-became-common-as.html
In the review of the article “Tuskless elephants became common as an evolutionary response to poachers” by Charlotte Van Ness, it furthers our understanding of this topic by including a timeline and place for the history of poaching. It starts with saying, “The poaching of elephants has taken place ever since the 1700s, primarily in Africa.” (Van Ness). This shows that Charlotte conducted research in depth and provided us with a precise timeline. Another aspect I like is that she included statistics to demonstrate how much of a change over poaching has caused. “ ‘This caused the number of large herbivores to drop more than 90 percent in the country’s Gorongosa National Park’ (Buehler).” (Van Ness). This shows her choice of quotations included quantitative evidence. The third aspect I like about this review is that she actually explains why people do poaching excessively for their tusks. She says, “The tusks are made of ivory, a hard white material, that is currently in international high-demand. Researchers estimate that ivory is worth over $4,000, per kg, or 2.2lbs.” (Van Ness). With this explanation readers can understand why these tusks are so popular and valuable. The reason I chose these three aspects to mention is because they make the review very well-rounded and detailed.
Although overall Charlotte wrote an outstanding review, there is still room for improvement. For example, Charlotte did not really talk about what inconveniences tuskless elephants will have to encounter in their lives. Tusks function as important parts of their body, so once they lose their tusks, what will trouble them and how will they adapt to this change? Maybe the answers to these questions could be added to this review. Another aspect that could be improved is that Charlotte could explain how would this impact the ecosystem and food chain. Although she included a quote from the article, “ ‘Poaching ‘changing the course
evolutionof evolution’ in Gorongosa’s elephants, can have reverberating effects through the ecosystem given elephants’ dramatic impact on their surroundings’ (Buehler).” (Van Ness), she didn’t continue with what the impact is and how this will affect other animals.
Overall, my first impression of this article was that there was an alerting topic, the paragraphs are on-point and include all the necessary information we need to know. I chose this article because the title attracted me as it is distressing to think that poaching has brought such a negative change to the elephants. In the future I’ll pay more attention to this issue and how people can help!