How poaching is changing the face of African elephants

It's "natural" selection.
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Many thanks to Dr. Joyce H. Poole, Dr. Tammie Matson, Andrew Parker, and African Parks. To learn more about their ongoing work in elephant conservation, visit their websites below:
500elephants.org/
www.african-parks.org/
www.elephantvoices.org/
matsonridley.com/
And for a little pick-me-up…
Cute Baby Elephants
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Elephants and their ancestors have roamed the African continent for millions of years. They are the largest land animals on earth and can live up to 70 years. Elephants are profoundly intelligent and social creatures. They have trunks that serves as their nose, arm, and fingers. But elephant populations have taken a massive hit to their populations. Despite an international ban on the ivory trade and other laws to protect elephants, their overall populations continue to fall due to habitat loss and rampant poaching for their tusks. Because of that, a once rare trait is being passed onto more African elephants. The trait is tusklessness, The loss of tusks is only the beginning. The real devastation occurs with the loss of a groups matriarch. The oldest and most experienced grandmothers are the family’s living memory of migration routes, friendly elephants, food and water sources, etc. Matriarchs are also, the first in line to protect their families and without them an entire group of elephants can fall apart. But with China banning ivory in 2017, providing stronger incentives to protect elephants, and sustained conservation efforts from organizations like ElephantVoices, African Parks, and others, elephants may stand a chance to roam the continent as their ancestors once did.
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[@boy638]

Education. Education. Education. When there's no demand, there will be no supply.

[@kohlinoor]

Agreed, the problem is education, like change, takes time. Elephant populations don't have a whole lot of time left if things stay as they are. Hopefully the Chinese ivory ban better protects them, it's about time China started pulling its weight in this area!

[@boy638]

Asha Mae Sharkfins too!

[@inc__8858]

killing animal must get equal penalty as killing human. and China should arrest not those who sell but arrest those who buys and who own and keep it as a decoration. so they won't buy

[@inc__8858]

Drunk Santa what do you mean underneath. yeah elephant is less intelegent then human so what. you say that because your human brain is evolve to to think that way, to save your human spices. evolution has made brain to choose own spices to other. thats science and evolution. me I think all life is equal. wether it's human or elephant but since earth is dominated by human and we live in human society. obviously human life is above elephant.

[@kayodee2992]

Yeah, very good answer. That is why for example criminalizing drugs will get less a problem. This is a logical consequence on the money system.

[@tigeytheunitiger619]

Read an article about doctors and conservationists dying tusks a pink hue. This makes the ivory useless and is unnoticeable by other elephants. So it doesn't impact mating, but makes them unwanted by poachers.

[@tryagaintmrw]

interesting

[@micahbush5397]

That's actually a myth.

[@mrchicken1430]

Is it possible to stain tusks perchance? Like stain them some really nasty color so the ivory would be ruined, but the elephant could still use its tusks

[@benenwren4110]

It probably wouldn't be possible to do it on a large enough scale, but that's a very interesting idea...

[@rosesprouts]

MrChicken 14 Really interesting that you say that! They've actually been attempting that with some variants of Rhinos!

[@adamtak3128]

Do you mean stain the surface or somehow stain the insides as well? If it's just the surface, I'm sure poachers would be able to just sand it off.

[@mrchicken1430]

Adam Tak ideally stain the inside, but I would imagine that would be difficult to do so without decreasing the structural integrity of the tusks, and without toxicity.

[@user-bo1fg6tw5e]

You mean like what was done with chinchillas? It may be possible, however, developing a dye that could soak through ivory would be difficult.

[@stevenrubioo]

Tutorials on Voxs motion graphic techinques anyone?

[@Riptize]

it's probably a national secret

[@Croz89]

It's probably After Effects and Photoshop. Lots of videos use similar graphics.

[@manooxi327]

someone call Nicolas Cage!

[@yeahnoway111]

After effects

[@calebpaddack7450]

You can literally buy the same things on video hive for like 10 bucks lol

[@erockstoenescu6171]

Can you guys imagine our kids or grandkids growing up in a world without wild elephants and rhinos maybe even gorillas and tigers? It makes my blood boil I honestly want to go fight poaching but Africa is so damn scary

[@donut5818]

same. I wish all poachers had their throat slit.

[@pocketfullofshellz]

Let's not forget that these are people trying to feed their children, and poaching is a cheap way to earn money. The real problem is the conditions that create a trade like poaching.

[@peacejohn6162]

MangoReptiles don't worry they are actually killed

[@TheStoneSpiral]

We grew up without thousands of species because of the destructive habits of older humans. It would be the same. The real tragedy would be to the environment and quality of wildlife here on Earth. Not really to us as a species.

[@DestinysJesus]

Don't think they'd mind. Like we don't mind about not having dodos around do we.

[@Cpt.PickHard]

the way they step looks so soft and gentle even thou they weigh gazilion tons

[@Martieeen]

why not wait until they die...would their tusks change? let the elephant live a regular life and be able to defend itself.. then when dead make your shitty jewelry

[@joeyad2626]

Martin Lamoza yeah?

[@logacoolxtreme]

htey're not like cattle. they can live as long as we can and the tusk will only mature at adulthood. besides by then the cost of maintaining ht elephant probably exceeds the cost of the ivory.

[@mycelia_ow]

logacoolxtreme, he never said maintain

[@jelledenbutter4595]

Martin Lamoza this is what we call the prisoner's dilemma. If the poachers would wait until the elephants die someone else might already have killed that elephant. It is a risk not worth taking, therefore the poachers kill the elephant right away. Even though it would benefit them to wait so that the tusks would grow bigger and the elephant might have been able to produce offspring. You should also realise that poachers poach because they need money. If they do not shoot that elephant their child cannot go to school, or might even die because of starvation or a lack of medicines. It is a complex problem, so solving it is harder to solve than it might look.

[@naverilllang]

Because if it is legal to collect ivory from already dead elephants, what is to stop someone from "discovering" a dead elephant? If ivory is legal to trade and sell, how can you be sure that it was legally harvested? Much better to just ban it.

[@abhishekprasad3325]

Evolution to the rescue.

[@Miquelalalaa]

Abhishek Prasad No this was not evolution, this was a gift from the Gods, do not abandon religion in favour of atheism, in which itself plays make believe as a religion.

[@__prometheus__]

Orange is the new black If you're trolling thats cool. but its *NATURAL SELECTION* thats leading to this. You can be religious and believe in evolution. so stop it.

[@Miquelalalaa]

Not A troll Another Atheist trying to enforce their opinion on others.

[@ando4440]

Orange is the new black .Scientifically illiterate people like you ,is the reason why I left religion. Keep up the good work of making religious people look stupid and illiterate, you're doing us atheists a favour.

[@midnight142]

Orange is the new black if he is forcing his opinions on you, aren't you doing the same on the original poster? hypocrisy much?

[@sia2761]

My granddad was really passionate about this. He set up the first anti elephant poaching organisation in Uganda. Would have been so happy about China's ban.

[@jacobhelbig6967]

Oh my God! Painting Elephants! So cute!

[@soda0962]

Elephants never fail to blow me away, they're so beautiful. This was a great video, keep it up vox.

[@erick-gmz]

Man elephants are amazing, there's just something about their size and how they move and their strange bodies that's so captivating

[@apprenticeb8r8r93]

why do you sound like you someone would wanna roofie an elephant

[@varizez109]

My love for elephants is infinite. Thanks Vox (and Gina Barton) for the video. Its beautiful, I love the positive note it ended on

[@ShreyasSreedhar2]

I saw an Instagram post where it mentioned, dying the tusk in somesort of dye pink won't affect the tusk or the elephant and people can't use the Ivory since it's not pure. It could reduce the deaths of elephants.

[@AL-my7pr]

A modern day example of natural selection

[@AL-my7pr]

Ivar Anderberg I can see what you are trying to imply. But we are part of nature. Actually we need to understand that very well, that we are part of this world and not its masters.

[@Gerry565656]

It is natural selection. A rather non beneficial trait is being weeded out by the tuskless elephants who breed. However, this is not a good thing, as elephants need those tusks.

[@AL-my7pr]

Gerry565656 So natural selection may not necessarily be for the better. Certain traits may be propagated that do not serve the organism

[@Flora0966]

Natural Selection yet murderer's go to jail and are called evil??! human's don't even understand they're own nature

[@mekalunia]

Just like human brains getting smaller.

[@RickyBobby666]

Elephants are amazing creatures

[@AlexParkYT]

Scientists need to find out how to 3D print ivory to make it worthless and protect elephants.

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

They could, but the keratin would be hard to mass-produce

[@francescofieni8017]

Stencil the Noivern geez dude, you're everywhere

[@rebornrubberducky]

The only monsters are humas

[@TheGreatAuk]

The only one to save these magnificent creatures is us

[@dotthepenguin9348]

She's so cute! This was a great video. I absolutely love elephants.

[@Razor21836]

save the elephants.

[@NickWright01]

save the elephants!

[@matiasreus2491]

I love this because it's basically observable evolution (I know we are always constantly evolving, but this is easy to see) the elephants with larger tusks are more likely to die of poaching and not pass their genes, while elephants with shorter tusks/no tusks are more likely to not be targeted by poachers and pass on their short Tusk/ no tusk genes.

[@joshgrobleck7907]

Absolutely genius to include videos of baby elephants. I really needed that.

[@GriffinHaines]

I cried at the end 😭

[@farisrevalin2745]

We don't need it by the end of this year. We need it now.

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

Time. The policies and the enactment takes time

[@sicktoaster]

Why is it that China is waiting for the end of 2017? Why so slow? There are so many times when a government decides a law is a good idea and for no apparent reason waits a long time to put it into effect. There may be some cases where some amount of preparation is necessary. But in this case they could instantly allow police to start making arrests and seizing the ivory when discovered. I could see giving people and businesses a week to comply and turn over any ivory to the police, but do they really need an entire year?

[@beatersho3497]

sicktoaster because they still want to make money off it and when they give a deadline it allows for tons of poachers to go and kill even more before it becomes outlawed

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

Implementation of something takes time. Especially in politics.

[@sicktoaster]

+Stencil the Noivern Sure developing a law enforcement strategy to investigate and prosecute the illegal ivory trade will take time, but there's no practical reason they have to wait just to give the police the power to arrest people for selling or possessing ivory, other than as I mentioned a possible one week grace period to turn over ivory in one's possession to the police but even so there's no reason to wait on putting a law against selling the ivory into effect.

[@brandonhuang1979]

sicktoaster The government has more pressing issues than some teeth from a land whale

[@KB-es6zw]

It's a big trade economy stuff like ivory trades and diamond sales don't go away over night they're prolly still regulating sales and businesses profiting from poaching

[@CharlieDBrown]

So the disgusting irony of it is, the more Ivory is poached, the rarer it becomes, making it even more valuable and sought after. And yet we have the nerve to consider ourselves above animals. I'd argue that we're capable of many more atrocities.

[@mariomaro7]

I love elephants. Such gentle creatures.

[@Riptize]

Poachers are some of the worst scum of the Earth

[@tinaloye2014]

If a human killed another human to remove their teeth for jewellery, we would called them psychopathic serial killers. We need to start persecuting poachers more severely so that they stop. It's messed up to kill an animal just to dress your home in its bones. That's not just creepy AF, it makes no sense and it's disgusting too.

[@imapaleimatatorfaboyinthes1749]

Give these animals a blessing 🙏

[@thesqooq6809]

Such majestic creatures and how they are being treated is depressing.

[@hamadbakheet815]

that was an emotional roller coaster of disappointment and hope , good job !!!

[@Dman9fp]

Such is the case with most of Nature and True reality nowadays, to be honest. And to be quite frank, I know it's too late. Scientists and wise people have been warning about climate change, the folly of capitalism, etc for Many Decades. If they didn't act back then, or when the warning signs were Really Popping up, they never will. Leaders are bought. Those with the most money own this world. Sad it's this way, but at least this realization allows us to enjoy the rest of our days as we may/ can, instead of the torture of denial &/or fluctuating between false hope and despair a Lot

[@MichaelManus]

Great video. I'd love to see a video about the current dolphin situation in Taiji; seems like that topic has died, yet as far as I know they're still killing dolphins.

[@ericaeast6561]

Those add ins were soooo good

[@beanl]

It breaks my heart...

[@CrazyLProductions]

Only reason we haven't been invaded is because aliens are afraid the Chinese will eat them

[@blakewittenberg8937]

ryan medrano ...so you want a racist yo come back to kill a racist

[@spectrelex3051]

ryan medrano the Chinese are building new islands in the hope that aliens land on them so they can be eaten.

[@Munchausenification]

aliens wont send their best, they will send robots to observe first

[@Sara3346]

Why?

[@thermalvision203]

+Lee Wright No, the Chinese will systematically arrest then execute aliens because they condone Falun Gong.

[@GeoffreyMureithi]

Welcome to Kenya for the best view of elephants, and the last three northern white rhinos left.

[@miss42310]

amazing how nature takes care of herself...

[@bellam9001]

i love her voice

[@charliedangerr]

Disney could make a movie about a tuskless elephant who got bullied without having tusk.. then hunter came and captured many of his kind because of their tusk and then the tuskless tried to save them and become the hero elephant..

[@martinum4]

Just wondering, why didn't China make the ivory trade government regulated? Just team up with some national parks in africa and collect all the tusks from DEAD old (thus big) elephants, it would be way better from an economical point of view because the tusk would have more time to get bigger and thus(k) more profitable. The Money created by this could be used against poacers and to buy more land for national parks and increasing the elephant population in that way.

[@venomf0]

Martin great idea

[@VeganConnor1]

Awe love this video

[@tomdeming]

This really grinds my gears. I'm weighing the pros and cons of quitting my job and moving to Africa to help stop poaching.

[@Mayo-fg2se]

stop being racist and ignorant in the comments and respect each other, saying that "Chinese are gonna destroy everything lmao" doesn't help at all, please be a little more mature

[@jjtc6881]

Genocide sounds like a spectacular environmental policy. How did you think of that one?

[@wizardmagic1580]

why do you think that?

[@thahdeepseadivuh7501]

I don't know karate cause I'm not a weeb give em the good ol Hiroshima treatment!

[@kinglink9541]

+Douglass MacArthur You do realize how hard China is fighting to protect the environment right? They are literally leaders in many environmental categories and are trying to become global leaders in environmental protection. And yes, saying they should be nuked is beyond racist. Its downright bloodthirsty, savage, and sick.

[@barroldtrumboma9162]

***** I never said they should be nuked... Wth? And BTW I highly doubt China is fighting to protect the environment when they are confirmed to be the largest polluters in the entire world. They also overfish, there rivers are literally brown with all kinds of trash, people in their cities wear masks to not inhale the visible smog, and Chinese citizens have some of the worst health imaginable. Almost every single Chinese citizen has some sort of defect, disease, or disability because of their pollution. Not only that, their government is one of the world's most corrupt, and people have no rights. PS even though I never said to "nuke the Chinese", that isn't racist. Racism is thinking one race is superior to another. Chinese isn't a race, and wanting to nuke them isn't thinking any race is superior so it in fact is not racist.

[@drink15]

Way to go Elephants! Outsmarting Humans!

[@sina7306]

idiot

[@drink15]

Thats a smart comment.

[@DaybreakPT]

Flap your ears and fly away from these pesky hoomans...

[@ROBLOXSisters]

loopholes galore

[@241Groundhog]

The elephants didn't "outsmart" people. Alot of the elephants with genes for big tusks died (involuntarily, not as some sort of conscious self-sacrifice). Elephants with genes coded for small tusks had more children (because they weren't dead). So, a greater proportion of the children had small tusks, or no tusks at all, than the parent's generation.

[@brod515]

Was in Maasai Mari last Christmas and There was loads of elephants. This is the way to go.

[@bob14775523]

I never knew elephants could draw themselves........DAMN That elephant draws better than I can😂😂😂

[@acmulhern]

I really hope the elephants bounce bad, because they are an important keystone species and such beautiful animals 🐘

[@severe_back-pain9804]

How chinese people make medicine 1.Get an endangered animal 2.make rumours about how it can heal cancer 3.MONEY

[@lasotahir3109]

Then the animal's extinction

[@lasseheims3117]

More Videos about animals and nature please!

[@ashleymac4762]

They're my favorite.

[@DudeWhoSaysDeez]

humans are so heartless sometimes :(

[@andrewapurcell]

sometimes?

[@myrkwise1281]

There Creationists. Proof of evolution. Are you satisfied?

[@Winter-cb6gh]

The gentle giant. Just don't disturb them.

[@floydthompson8668]

Thank you!

[@norymusic]

This might be stupid, but how does tusklessness become a trait. It's not a change to the DNA, it's only a change to a post birth elephant which shouldn't do anything. Please help me.

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

It is not a change to dna, but they're lacking a specific gene. Like how female peacocks don't have colourful plumages but males do. Males have the coloured plumage genes and females don't. Same rule applies to this.

[@sirrobertwalpole913]

Because the ones without tusks don't get targeted by poachers in the first place. Not to mention the poachers would target the ones with the biggest tusks first.

[@hinwer]

Nory Aronfeld The elephants with tusks are killed by poachers, so only the elephants with no tusks are left to breed (and that creates babies with no tusks like their parents)

[@alexx334]

Wait isnt this just straight up *proof* of evolution at school they say its a theory

[@matteor.3001]

Brilliant video as always! It horrifies me that one day these majestic creatures may be lost, as it has since the day I found out they were endangered all those years ago. They are a romance of a bygone era, our living dinosaurs. We must protect the wonderful animals, at all costs, and fight the evil that drives the poaching industry. Money can change people, sadly enough, as we all know...

[@Adnaneee]

DAT song at the end is jam

[@Azenithf]

People are cancer. I hope for a better future generation but to be honest I would rather us be wiped out :(

[@bombocrump3717]

Azenith F no

[@Azenithf]

We are the most destructive organism on this planet. I'm pretty sure mother nature is already taking its course.

[@marcogarcia7944]

Azenith F did you know that in the early days of earth cyanobacteria killed Almost every single living thing except its kind

[@barroldtrumboma9162]

So because some 3rd world people who are poaching, that makes all humans just as bad? And you think humans play no role in the ecosystem? And you think elephant lives are more important then humans? You are ignorant.

[@poopyjoe4016]

You go first

[@pwnsage]

Does an elephant really need tusks for self defense when it's a living battering ram? Any predators attack it, it can just kick them to death.

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

The tusks are the ram. Bashing anything head-on with the skull is asking for death

[@pwnsage]

Well, as said it can still kick them to death.

[@eclipse3802]

Elephants cant kick very well. They can't even jump! So kicking will do them no good.

[@noahpenner7737]

elephants are my favorite animal so I was drawn to this video

[@filsaime77]

Mammoth: so they got you to huh?

[@Knillinux]

The painting elephants thing is a myth - the trainers actually nudge them to get them to paint in the correct directions.

[@torgo_]

The punishment for poaching or attempted poaching should be the removal of that person's entire lower jaw, and all of their teeth, without anaesthetic. They will probably need to be strapped tightly to something. I'd say that would have around a 50% chance of surviving that experience, which is a better chance than the elephants have when they take their tusks.

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

it would actually be a full-on execution due to blood loss and shock

[@thefaceofawsomeness491]

The teeth could be sold to make jewelry and the proceeds could go towards conservation. I'd wear poacher teeth.

[@jluna231]

Natural selection/evolution at it's finest!!

[@cryptogirliebtc3987]

They are one of the most amazing creatures! Let’s protect them not kill them!!!

[@inc__8858]

many poor people from African and Asia. why would they care about some elephant life or any animal right when there own life is struggle to survive in those country. even if you are a hard worker there isent jobs in those country. so they do anything to stay alive and feed they family. elephant life is irrelevant to them. duh... sad but that's the fact...

[@inc__8858]

we all human are same biologicaly and pshycologicly. if we were in those place and circumstances, and grew up on those environment, no matter how morally good you are you become those person,for instance a pocher the problem is that human society is not yet that advance to put system and govern the plant where there is no poor people no rich people. it takes time..

[@inc__8858]

Eltener123 I am not saying it is okay to kill animal and harvesting organ from children. yet it happens in this world , why? you say these are bad things. duh.... every one know this.. i am not telling whats right or wrong. people do all crazy things. all around the world people are doing bad stuff. only difference is in first world country there is better law and system to avoid this kind of terrible things from happening.

[@seabb]

Eltener123 No, this person isn't saying it's okay to do these things. But you really can't blame it on the poachers. They're desperate. When you live in a country that offers you no opportunities, when you have family you need to feed, when you have no other way to earn money, turning to illegal activity is the only choice you have. It's the same with prostitutes, purse-stealers, etc. They're desperate and they see no other way they can earn money. The ivory market is big. You could earn loads of money for a single tusk, money that could sustain your family for a week. It's not difficult to see how tempting that offer would be if you were in that situation. It's not fair to put all the blame on the poacher, because often times, they have no other way. It's their country that's the problem. Places where poaching happens the most are in Africa and India. That's because these countries are developing countries and can't support their people enough. Laws and regulations are loose and the government doesn't have enough power to stop this from happening, or can't see anything wrong and resists change. To fight poaching, we must also target the countries where this is happening, not just the poachers themselves.

[@inc__8858]

Shell B thanks, you explained it 100 %what I am trying to say English is not my language. 🤗

[@-moefag]

ivory is very expensive, it is the rich people who create the demand for such an unnecessary thing

[@raphlvlogs271]

elephants have the biggest brains of any land animals that currently exists.

[@zachantes1161]

People need to realize that poaching isn't nearly as bad as deforestation.

[@justshooflypie3058]

Ikr

[@dantheman4421]

I have a set of ivory dominoes I inherited. I'll probably never part with them, they're incredible to behold.

[@wigglebiggle1811]

I always wondered why they didn't just remove the tusk like they do for rhino horns. Didn't realize it contained nerves. It would be so sad if elephants became entirely tuckless as it is such a beautiful feature.

[@Hannah-kk7wp]

what a nice video 🤗🤗

[@lawrencelo5601]

I just realized that elephants are super cool

[@jimpachi98]

Evolution, coming in clutch

[@HelloPokebowl]

Elephants are my favorite animal

[@Misaelito1991]

Mother Nature will always find a way

[@harrishromero6447]

Growth button

[@kenjiro2676]

Keep it up!

[@madil2259]

Good video

[@natashaweiss8950]

i wanted to cry ahhhhhgggggg

[@Sweetamber222]

So crazy this video was just released. I just googled the question of elephants being born with tusk, and got the same exact answer about a week prior. Crazy.

[@Neontronique]

great video. not sure why it didn't show up in my subs.

[@TomHasVideo]

Subtitles for an Australian accent. Love it.

[@ericbuchli4684]

Has anyone managed to find the name of the music at the end of the video? Many thanks in advance!

[@leonst.7471]

EVOLUTION !!!

[@lkrc9798]

this makes me cry T-T

[@blasted5477]

vox is slowly creepin back up my subscription feed because of this video producer that actually makes good videos

[@bjornironborn8967]

evolution is an amazing thing

[@kurdishgaming2088]

Elegant

[@SebastianSpielvogel]

Ovens are one of the most icon creatures... anybody else?

[@apprenticeb8r8r93]

It's not really a lie tho is it

[@YorktownUSA]

It's cute that some people literally care more about other species then their own.

[@legocitylife6734]

Wow...

[@Vedrajrm]

awesome music though

[@mattikiiski5297]

#vox @vox How do you create animations for videos such as this when colors and text and moving pictures are combined?

[@rollinthunder1000]

Evolution right before your very eyes people.

[@chaoking3119]

Yup, we see the same thing in America with deer antlers. During hunting season, bucks with a big set of antlers dont last long. Meanwhile, the doe's, not having antlers, are usually left alone. As a result, more bucks are simply not growing antlers. Eventually we will be left with a deer population that does not even grow antlers at all.

[@YorktownUSA]

Natural selection at work.

[@idriss1901]

What's that music in the end?

[@NorCal415]

I made a research paper on this in high school. Wish I knew this video existed.