A recent study of ancient and moder

A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has come up with the unexpected conclusion
that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species.
The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard Universities when they were
examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to
modern elephants-the Asian elephant, African forest elephant,and African savanna elephant.
Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石), mammoths and mastodons,
the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants.They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and
mammoths.
The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephant and
the African forest elephant have been distinct species for several million years.The divergence
of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly
mammoths.This result amazed all the scientists.
There has long been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate
species, but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different
species.
Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest
elephants were two populations of the same species, despite the elephants' significant size
differences.The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5 metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5 metres.The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant.But the fact that they look so
different does not necessarily mean they are different species.However the proof lay in the
analysis of the DNA.
Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of
Illinois, said, "We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for
conservation purposes.Since 1950, all African elephants have been conserved as one species.
Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinctive animals, the forest elephant should become a bigger priority(优先) for conservation purposes.

結果 (中文) 1:

最近一项研究的古代和现代的大象赶上了出人意料的结论非洲大象被分为两个不同的 (不同) 物种。当他们有了在纽约大学和哈佛大学的研究人员发现研究古代的长毛猛犸象和乳齿象对的遗传关系现代大象的亚洲象、 非洲森林大象和非洲大草原的大象。一旦他们从两个化石 (化石)，猛犸象和乳齿象，获得 DNA 序列 (化石)从现代大象，团队比较他们与 DNA。他们发现他们的惊奇，现代森林和稀树草原的大象都从对方独特的亚洲象和猛犸象。科学家们使用了详细的基因分析证明，非洲大草原的大象和非洲森林象已被不同的物种几百万年。分歧两个物种在附近发生了亚洲大象和具绵状毛的分歧的时间猛犸象。这一结果感到吃惊所有的科学家。可能是两个单独的科学界长久以来的辩论物种，但这是目前为止最令人信服的科学证据，他们的确是不同的物种。此前，许多博物学家认为，非洲的热带稀树草原的大象和非洲森林大象的两个群体的相同的物种，尽管大象的巨大规模差异。大草原的大象有平均肩高 3.5 米，而森林大象有 2.5 米平均肩高。大草原的大象大约重之间六、 七吨，双森林大象的重量。但他们看起来这么的事实不同并不意味着它们是不同的物种。然而证明躺在DNA 的分析。阿尔弗雷德 · 罗卡，在大学动物科学系助理教授伊利诺伊州说，"我们现在必须视为两个不同的单位，为森林和稀树草原的大象保护的目的。1950 年以来，所有的非洲大象一直保守作为一个物种。现在，我们知道森林和热带草原大象是两个非常独特的动物，森林大象应该成为保育用途更大的 priority(优先)。