Tusklessness and Tusk Eruption in East African Savanna Elephant

Abstract

ABSTRACT For research and to reduce numbers, between 1965 and 1969, 2900 elephants from five clans were culled in Uganda's Murchison Falls National Park and the Nyika Biome of Kenya and Tanzania, and examined post-mortem. The incidence of congenital male and female tusklessness either bilaterally or unilaterally is compared among five clans. Anatomical dissection of males provided 15 cases of unilateral congenital tusklessness, but no male bilateral congenital tusk cases. Female congenital bilateral tusklessness in the five clans combined was 1.5%, and congenital unilateral lack of a tusk was 3.3%. Female congenital tusklessness in the Nyika Biome, which is close to the coast and maritime trade, was higher than in central west Uganda deep in the continent. This might reflect centuries of selective hunting for ivory. The ages at which tusks in both genders emerge through the gingivae is documented and varied between 1 and 5 years.