"Wonder No Longer!" (From Chic Silber)

Scan00000010078, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Good morning Buckles Just saw this "exciting" article exclaiming the new finding African elephant is two species Genetic researchers may have resolved a long-standing dispute by proving there are two species of African elephant. Savannah and forest elephants have been separated for at least three million years, they say, and are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants are from the extinct woolly mammoth. The researchers also made what they say are the first sequences of nuclear DNA from the extinct American mastodon. The study is reported in the journal Public Library of Science Biology. The debate over whether the African elephant is one or two species has been going on for about a decade. Weighing in at six or seven tonnes, the much larger elephants found on savannah are about twice as heavy as forest-dwellers. This, along with other differences in size and shape, has led some researchers to conclude there are two species the savannah (or bush) elephant, Loxodonta africana, and the forest species, Loxodonta cyclotis. The scientists - from the US, UK and Germany - now say they have proved the case. I've been worrying myself sick about this for years I'm sure you have been also Now we can relax & enjoy the holidays Merry Christmas Chic From Buckles: I wonder how much this study cost the American Tax Payers? Richard Reynolds has been explaining this for over twenty years. A phone call would have saved millions. I might add that this zoo picture also came from Wayne Jackson, the chap who sent today's "Jumbo reenactment" pix. He wrote on the back: Cleveland Zoo, Nov. 1966 "Tara" and "Jimba" 14 year old African Bush females. Robert O'Dell, Keeper