【推荐1】A set of tusks is usually an advantage for elephants, allowing them to dig for water, peel bark for food, and defend themselves. But during periods of intense ivory poaching (偷猎), those big tusks may invite danger.

During the conflict from 1977 to 1992 in Mozambique, fighters on both sides killed elephants for ivory to finance war efforts. In the region that’s now Gorongosa National Park, around 90% of the elephants were killed. The survivors were likely to share a key characteristic: Half the females were naturally tuskless—they simply never developed tusks—while before the war, less than a fifth lacked tusks. “The years of war changed the course of evolution in that population,” said biologist Shane Campbell-Staton.

After the war, those tuskless surviving females passed on their genes with expected, as well as surprising results. About half their daughters were tuskless. More puzzling, two-thirds of their offspring(后代)were female.

In Gorongosa, researchers collected blood samples from seven tusked and eleven tuskless female elephants, then analyzed their DNA for differences. The survey data gave them an idea where to look: Because the tuskless elephants were female, they focused on the X chromosome (染色体). They also suspected that the relevant gene was dominant, meaning that a female needs only one altered gene to become tuskless, and that when passed to male embryos, it may shorten their development.

“They’ve produced the smoking-gun evidence for genetic changes,” said Chris Darimont. “The work helps scientists and the public understand how our society can have a major influence on the evolution of other life forms.”

Now the scientists are studying what more tuskless elephants mean for the species and its savannah (大草原) environment. “Their previous analysis of fecal (排泄物) samples suggests the tuskless females ate mostly grass, without long tusks to peel bark from trees, whereas the tusked animals ate more legumes (豆类) and tough woody plants,” said Robert Pringle. “These changes will last for at least multiple elephant generations.”

【推荐2】Teenage aviator Zara Rutherford has become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo (单独飞行).

The 19-year-old, who has dual British-Belgian nationality, landed at Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport in western Belgium on Thursday, completing an epic 41-country journey spanning over 52,000 kilometers (32,300 miles), and broke two Guinness World Records in the process.

“I made it,” Rutherford, who received an overjoyed welcome on her arrival, told reporters.

Not only has she beaten the record held by American Shaesta Waiz, who was 30 when she flew around the globe unaccompanied in 2017, Rutherford also now holds the title for the first woman to circumnavigate the world in a microlight aircraft (微型飞机). She is also the first Belgian to fly around the world alone.

However, the teenager’s route to glory hasn’t been without its challenges. Rutherford departed on August 18, 2021, expecting to finish in about three months. But she was plagued by setbacks, including month-long delays in both Alaska and Russia due to “visa and weather issues,” pushing her schedule back eight weeks.

“I would say the hardest part was definitely flying over Siberia — it was extremely cold. It was minus 35 degrees Celsius on the ground,” Rutherford said during a press conference.

“If the engine were to switch off, I’d be hours away from rescue and I don’t know how long I could have survived for.”

“I was hoping to complete it by Christmas but I guess that’s not happening anymore,” Rutherford told reporters t in Seoul, South Korea after arriving from Vladivostok on December 13. “But it’s an adventure.”

While she’s flown to an array of destinations, such as Singapore, Egypt and Greece, along with Russia and South Korea, Rutherford has been unable to explore any of them on land due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The final leg of her journey was also hit with delays due to bad weather, which meant her completion date was moved back another week.

【推荐3】A rescue operation is underway to save a lone owl after its family were wiped out by rat poison. The lone owl — a female named Daisy, who’s just months old and lives in a tree in Philippe Park — is now without her parents to teach her how to survive.

Daisy’s dad Oliver has been nesting at the park for the last eight years, but on Friday he was found dead. Wildlife groups believe it died from eating a rat that had consumed rat poison.

“Owls aren’t breaking into the traps themselves, but they’re eating the rats after the rats consume the poison. The rats move slowly. They look like an easy meal, and we end up with situations like this,” the board secretary of Birds in Helping Hands, Fairl Thomas said.

In March, the mom owl named Emily was found dead in the bay along with one of her three chicks. Both deaths were caused by rat poison. Weeks later, another chick was found dead.

“It’s a completely senseless tragedy (悲剧), completely preventable,” expert Kim Begay said. “There is absolutely no reason why it should have happened.

After the first owl death in March, Birds in Helping Hands convinced the City of Safety Harbor to stop placing rat boxes in their city parks. The city now plans to educate the local community by placing these informational handbooks in their water and electricity bills’ boxes next month encouraging residents to stop using certain rat poison.

As for Daisy, volunteers have been watching her around the clock. Traps are set with live rats in hopes of catching her soon. Once rescued, she’ll be taken to the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to learn how to hunt from an adult great-horned owl in hopes of eventually letting her go back to the wild.