Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Head and Neck Pathology
Published in: Head and Neck Pathology 3/2016

Open Access 01-09-2016 | Review Paper

Ivory Harvesting Pressure on the Genome of the African Elephant: A Phenotypic Shift to Tusklessness

Authors: Erich J. Raubenheimer, Hilde D. Miniggio

Published in: Head and Neck Pathology | Issue 3/2016

Login to get access

Abstract

The unique chequered pattern of elephant ivory has made it a desired commodity for the production of various works of art. The demand however outstrips the supply and with soaring prices, illegal tusk harvesting is thriving on the African continent. Formal restrictions placed on trade in elephant products have been ineffective in reversing the rapid decline in elephant numbers. We are presently facing the reality of extinction of free roaming elephant on the African continent. This paper describes the histogenesis of the chequered pattern, the genomic impact of ivory harvesting on the phenotype of breeding herds, and the contribution of science to tracing the origin of illegal ivory.
Literature
1.
Sikes SK. The natural history of the African elephant. Part I. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson; 1972. p. 1–184.
2.
3.
4.
Armstrong S, Bridgeland F. Elephants and the ivory tower. New Sci. 1989;124:37–41.
5.
Courouble M, Hurst F, Milliken T. More ivory than elephants: domestic ivory markets in three West African countries. Pretoria: Traffic East/Southern Africa; 2003. p. 1–62.
6.
Raubenheimer EJ. Development of the tush and tusk and tusklessness in African elephant (Loxodonta Africana). Koedoe. 2000;43:57–64.CrossRef
7.
McEwan BS. Behavioral control of hormone secretion. In: Siegel GJ, Agranoff BW, Albers RW, editors. Basic neurochemistry: molecular, cellular and medical aspects. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven; 1999. p. 1–2.
8.
Hall-Martin A. Addo. Afr Environ Wildl. 1998;6:66–77.
9.
Grizmek B. Grizmek’s animal life encyclopaedia, vol. 1. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold; 1972.
10.
Raubenheimer EJ, Bosman MC, Vorster R, Noffke CE. Histogenesis of the chequered pattern of ivory of the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana). Arch Oral Biol. 1998;43:969–77.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Van der Merwe NJ, Lee-Thorpe JA, Bell RHV. Carbon isotopes as indicators of elephant diets and African environments. Afr J Ecol. 1988;26:163–72.CrossRef
12.
Van der Merwe NJ, Lee-Thorpe JA, Thackeray JF, Hall-Martin A, Kruger FJ, Coetzee H, Bell RHV, Lindeque M. Source-area determination of elephant ivory by isotope analysis. Nature. 1990;346:744–6.CrossRef
13.
Codron J, Codron C, Sponheimer M, Kirman K, Duffy KJ, Raubenheimer EJ, Melice JL, Grant R, Clauss M, Lee-Thorpe JA. Stable isotope series from elephant ivory reveal lifetime histories of a true dietary generalist. Proc R Soc B. 2012;279:2433–41.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
14.
Raubenheimer EJ, Brown JJM, Rama DBK, Dreyer MJ, Smith PD, Dauth J. Geographic variations in the composition of ivory of the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana). Arch Oral Biol. 1998;43:641–7.CrossRefPubMed
15.
Chatterjee GC. Nutritional deficiencies in animals: vitamin C. In: Rechcigi M, editor. CRC handbook series in nutrition and food, section E: nutritional disorders, vol. 2. Florida: CRC Press; 1978. p. 149–76.
16.
Anderson JC. Biochemical basis of connective tissue disease. In: Gardner L, editor. Pathological basis of connective tissue diseases, chapter 4. Philadelphia; 1992. p. 174–226.
Metadata
Title
Ivory Harvesting Pressure on the Genome of the African Elephant: A Phenotypic Shift to Tusklessness
Authors
Erich J. Raubenheimer
Hilde D. Miniggio
Publication date
01-09-2016
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Head and Neck Pathology / Issue 3/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1936-0568
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-016-0704-y

Other articles of this Issue 3/2016

Head and Neck Pathology 3/2016 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Head and Neck Schwannomas: 20-Year Experience of a Single Institution Excluding Cutaneous and Acoustic Sites

Case Report

Diagnostic Challenges in the Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy of Chronic Sclerosing Sialadenitis (Küttner’s Tumor) in the Context of Head and Neck Malignancy: A Series of 4 Cases

Original Paper

Phosphaturic Mesenchymal Tumor Involving the Head and Neck: A Report of Five Cases with FGFR1 Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization Analysis

Case Report

Sinonasal Globular Amyloidosis Simulating Malignancy: A Rare Presentation

Sine qua non Radiology-Pathology

Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor of the Nasal Cavity

Original Paper

Connexin 43 (Cx43) Expression in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinomas: Preliminary Data on Its Possible Prognostic Role