[Environment Report]:Pygmy Elephants of Borneo


This is the VOA Special English Environment Report.

Graphic Image
Graphic Image

Scientists have identified theelephants that live on the island of Borneo in Malaysia as separatefrom other Asian elephants. The group Worldwide Fund for Nature, orW-W-F, announced the finding. This follows genetic tests on wastefrom Borneo's Pygmy Elephants, as they are called.

The Sabah Wildlife Department in Malaysia permitted researchersto collect droppings from forests on Borneo. They sent the materialto Columbia University in New York City. There, the Department ofEcology, Evolution and Environmental Biology carried out the tests.

Scientists compared the D-N-A to the genes of elephants that livein mainland Malaysia and in Sri Lanka, India and other Asiancountries.

The research shows that Borneo elephants were separated fromother Asian elephants about three-hundred-thousand years ago. Somedifferences are easy to see. The Borneo elephants are smaller thanother elephants. Their ears and tails make up a larger part of theirbodies. And their tusks are straighter.

Also, the chairman of the W-W-F program in Malaysia says theBorneo elephants are gentler compared to other Asian elephants.

The group says the test results mean that the pygmy elephants ofBorneo should be treated as their own kind. It says the elephantsshould not be permitted to reproduce with other Asian elephants. Itsays there should also be research into the reproductive rates ofthe Borneo elephants and survival of their young.

The nature group notes a long-standing dispute about where theBorneo elephants came from. One theory is that their ancestors weregifts from the British East India Company to the Sultan of Sulu inthe seventeenth century. The scientists, however, say the newfindings reject the argument that humans brought the elephants tothe island.

The other theory is that the elephants could remain from a nativepopulation that traveled between Borneo and Sumatra. During the iceages, more than ten-thousand years ago, sea levels were much lower.Land sometimes linked the two islands. The elephants could have beentrapped on Borneo after the water rose again.

This VOA Special English Environment Report was written by CatyWeaver.

品牌培训机构展示

该专题下最近更新的节目

专题广播资料索引