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WHY ELEPHANTS NEVER HAVE CANCER

STOP THE POACHING!

By Tolani TemitopePublished 7 months ago 3 min read
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Did you know that there were approximately 10 million elephants on the planet 100 years ago? Poaching, hunting, and habitat destruction have wiped out the population, which now numbers less than 500,000. It's unlikely they'll ever have a population anywhere close to that size again. Despite current attempts to safeguard elephants, over 20,000 elephants are being poached each year for their ivory. Poaching serves no practical use; it is simply utilized to feed a business founded on ignorance. People might be less motivated to slaughter elephants if they learn more about them.

In the meantime, we can only assist. There's always something new for the rest of us to discover like elephants can swim up to 30 miles. A giant male elephant may weigh as much as a large beast, and despite their bulk, elephants are excellent swimmers. Despite the fact that they are frequently depicted walking across tiny rivers, they can fully submerge themselves in water and swim for long distances. The shape of an elephant's body makes it extremely buoyant, and as a result, they can swim with surprising ease and grace.

Elephants can also stay in the water for up to 6 hours at a time, and while a person might consider an elephant obese and hence unfit for physical activity, elephants frequently trek for up to 80 miles per day in search of food and water. While elephants cannot swim too far, they can cover a relatively short distance in the water. They can swim for miles and even though they can only attain a speed of approximately 1.3 mph, they have been documented as travelling as far as 30 miles in a single stretch, which you have to believe was helped at least a little bit by the current, and elephants will occasionally use their trunk as a makeshift snorkel.

Elephants are less likely to develop cancer because of a tumor-suppressing gene. With all of the challenges elephants face, it's reassuring to know they don't have to worry about cancer. While it's not impossible for an elephant to develop cancer, it's extremely unusual. Scientists believe this is due to the tp53 gene. Studies have revealed that the tp53 gene activates when an organism develops aberrant cell proliferation, which could lead to tumor formation. This Gene then goes to work on the aberrant cells, either repairing the harm or killing the cell before it can replicate the damage. If this did not happen and the aberrant cell was able to continue replicating, it would develop into what is known as a tumor.

Humans do, in fact, have two copies of the tp53 gene, which helps us fight cancer. However, cancer is obviously a major concern in humans, so these genes can only do so much. Elephants, on the other hand, have a significant advantage over humans in that they do not only have tp53 genes, but they have 40 of them compared to our two, which researchers believe explains why elephants are particularly resistant to cancer.

Elephants will occasionally bury the deceased. Elephants are formidable creatures that exude strength and majesty. Elephants mourn their dead and will sometimes bury them, frequently returning years later to what are known as elephant graveyards, but this treatment is not limited to other elephants; elephants will also bury human remains that they come across in the wild.According to stories, elephants will attempt to bury sleeping humans on rare occasions. In this instance, you have to suppose that the person will likely remain frozen even if they wake up because of sheer fear of what the elephants might do. As a result, a human is covered in underbrush by an elephant.

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