Tuskless African Female Elephant
by Amy E Fraser
Title
Tuskless African Female Elephant
Artist
Amy E Fraser
Medium
Painting - Oil Pastel On Paper
Description
The Tuskless African Female Elephant by Amy E. Fraser. This is an expressive elephant portrait in shades of blue, gray and black with intelligent blue eyes complimented with a warm yellow textural background.
According to www.smithsonianmag.com “Scientists have linked heavy ivory poaching to an increase of tuskless African female elephants in Mozambique at the Gorongosa National Park, reports Maite Fernández Simon for the Washington Post. The East African country underwent a nearly two decade civil war that decimated 90 percent of the Grongosa elephant population because both sides engaged in animal poaching. This activity may have set off an evolutionary response that favored tuskless elephants as population numbers recovered. While no longer having ivory tusks may save elephants from poaching, the genetic mutation responsible for eliminating tusks is lethal to male elephants, reports Elizabeth Preston for the New York Times. Details of the study were published this month in the research journal Science.”
According to www.nature.com “Ivory hunting drives evolution of tuskless elephants In Mozambique, the selective poaching of elephants with tusks has led to a higher number of females being born without them.”
The African elephant (Loxodonta) is a genus comprising two living elephant species, the African bush elephant (L. africana) and the smaller African forest elephant (L. cyclotis). Both are social herbivores with grey skin, but differ in the size and color of their tusks and in the shape and size of their ears and skulls. African elephants have grey folded skin up to 1.2 inches thick that is covered with sparse, bristled dark-brown to black hair. Short tactile hair grows on the trunk, which has two finger-like processes at the tip, whereas Asian elephants only have one. Their large ears help to reduce body heat; flapping them creates air currents and exposes the ears' inner sides where large blood vessels increase heat loss during hot weather. The trunk is a prehensile elongation of its upper lip and nose. Both male and female African elephants have tusks that grow from deciduous teeth called tushes, which are replaced by tusks when calves are about one year old. Tusks are primarily used to dig for roots and strip the bark from trees for food, for fighting each other during mating season, and for defending themselves against predators. The tusks weigh from 50 to 100 pounds and can be from 5 to 8 feet long. They are curved forward and continue to grow throughout the elephant's lifetime. They are amongst the world's most intelligent species. With a brain mass of just over 11 pounds, the elephant brain is larger than that of any other terrestrial animal. Many African cultures revere the African elephant as a symbol of strength and power. It is also praised for its size, longevity, stamina, mental faculties, cooperative spirit, and loyalty.
Amy E. Fraser’s Oil Pastel Animal Portrait series is an impassioned tribute to the beauty and magic of our beloved Animal Kingdom. Fun, gestural and energetic, these vibrant animals are painted in a stylized realism that is imbued with distinctive character and personality.
The Tuskless African Female Elephant by Amy E. Fraser. Animal Portrait Paintings created from the artist’s intense connection to and love for all creatures great and small. Oil Pastel on archival paper. All images copyright Amy E. Fraser. All rights reserved.
Uploaded
May 19th, 2022
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