Tusklessness Problem or Solution

Period: 2nd Name: Tusklessness: Problem or Solution? Using the data in Table 2 from Nyirenda, et al. (2015), answer the questions that follow. From Nyirenda, V. R., P. A. Lindsey, E. Phiri, I. Stevenson, C. Chomba, N. Namukonde, W. J. Myburgh, and B. K. Reilly. (2015). Trends in Illegal Killing of African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Luangwa and Zambezi Ecosystems of Zambia. Environment and Natural Resources Research. 1) In what three sites were poached elephants surveyed? Lower Zambezi, North Luangwa, and South Luangwa 2) From all three sites surveyed, what was the total number killed for their ivory? 186 a. What percent of the total elephants killed does this number represent? 65% 3) Explain how you arrived at your answer for question 2. Added the elephants that were poached all up. 4) From all three sites surveyed, what was the total number of tuskless elephants killed? 10 a. What percent of the total elephants killed does this number represent? 0.04 % b. Why were these tuskless individuals killed? For their meat. 5) Explain how you arrived at your answer for question 4 (what categories did you have to add?). All of the tuskless elephants. 6) Calculate the percent difference between the totals in questions 2 and 4 . .61 % 7) Why do you think this difference exists? Because elephant meat isn’t that wanted and elephant ivory is very wanted. Use the following data to answer the questions that follow. 8) Describe the main idea of this graph. The more poaching going on the more people want elephants for their tusks 9) What does the bar on the left tell you? Elephants of all ages that don’t have tusks 10) What does the bar on the right tell you? Elephants that survived the civil war that don’t have tusks. 11) Why is the segment of the population represented by the bar on the right so significant? Because during the civil war people wanted fast money and by killing elephants, they could sell them for their meat and other things. 12) What do you think causes an elephant to be tuskless? Their genetics also sometimes the tusks just happen to fall off. 13) The civil war in Mozambique ended about 20 years ago. Make a prediction as to whether you think there is more or less trustlessness among younger elephants who are younger than 20 years old. More tuskless ones because most of the tusk elephants have died and the parents without the tusk have survived so they could reproduce and make babies without tusks. Name: Period: Tusklessness: Problem or Solution? Part II Watch the video clip at http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/selection-tuskless-elephants Use the following data and information from the video to answer the questions that follow. 1) You made a prediction in the last page that asked about elephants younger than 20 years of age. With this new data above, explain whether your prediction came close and why. I didn’t come close because I said that there would be more tuskless elephants and there is less than 20 + but at the same time I was also right because there is more tuskless ones than all ages. 2) Who is leading the elephant study in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, Africa? Joyce and other local scientists. 3) What exactly is she studying? Elephant behavior and how the elephants are recovering from the heavy poaching of the civil war. 4) How did the civil war affect elephant populations? Because people wanted money to help fight the war so they would kill elephants for their tusks so they would get lots of money. 5) Dr. Poole noticed a high proportion of tuskless elephants after the war. But why did males still have their tusks? Because for the males to survive and fight they need their tusks and if they don’t have them, they will be at risk and will get hurt. 6) What was the selective pressure that increased the numbers of tuskless elephants? The poaching of the civil war. 7) Explain how this selective pressure shifted the population to be more tuskless. The elephants that didn’t have tusks didn’t get killed so the tuskless elephants started breeding together and made more tuskless elephants 8) Why are there fewer tuskless elephants born after the war (ages 10-20 years old)? Because they are not at a direct threat for poaching 9) Why do tuskless elephants have a selective advantage? Because people who poach elephants want elephants for their tusks and 10) Besides poaching, what another major factor is causing a decline in elephant populations? Habitats lose so when humans come in and build homes or buildings elephants are losing their land and habitat. Using the graphs below at the right, answer the following questions. 11) In what year(s) were the most tusked females present in this population? 1931 12) Based on the answer to Q11, how many elephants were present in this population at this time? Around 2 13) In what year(s) were the most tuskless females present in this population? 2001 14) Based on the answer to Q13, how many elephants were present in this population at this time? Around 340 15) Describe what the top graph illustrates. The female elephants that have tusks 16) Describe what the bottom graph illustrates. The population size of elephants Complete the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning below. Cite evidence from any of the data you observed including the video. Claim: There was an increase in tuskless elephants in areas with heavy poaching. Evidence: Around 1931 0.45% of all elephants had tusks and in 2001 only 0.10 % had tusks. Reasoning: Due to the heavy poaching of elephants during the civil war the elephants with tusks got poached for their tusks so people could make money so the elephants without tusks didn’t get poached very much so the elephants without tusks started breeding together and made more kids without tusks.