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  3. Africa’s elephants are divided between the savannahs of eastern and southern Africa and the forests of central Africa. Some biol

Africa’s elephants are divided between the savannahs of eastern and southern Africa and the forests of central Africa. Some biol

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问题     Africa’s elephants are divided between the savannahs of eastern and southern Africa and the forests of central Africa. Some biologists reckon the forest ones-smaller, with shorter, straighter tusks-may even constitute a distinct species. But not for long, at the latest rate of poaching. The high price of ivory is increasing the incentive to kill elephants everywhere in Africa, and especially in places where there is virtually no law.  
    The latest reports suggest that the forest elephant population is collapsing on the back of rising Chinese demand for ivory. Some conservationists argue that a recent decision by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to auction 108 tonnes of stockpiled ivory from southern Africa may be prompting more poaching in central and eastern Africa, as criminals seek to mix illicit ivory in with the legitimate kind. But some economists maintain that the legitimate sale of ivory lowers prices, thus decreasing the incentive to poach. A study of a previous sale of ivory suggested it did not lead to more intensive poaching.  
    Either way, the Congo basin is " hemorrhaging elephants ", says TRAFFIC, which monitors trade in wildlife. The head of the 790,000-hectare (1,952,000-acre) Virunga National Park in eastern Congo, Emmanuel de Merode, reports that 24 elephants have been poached in his park so far this year. The situation is dire: 2,900 elephants roamed Virunga when Congo became independent in 1964,400 in 2006, and fewer than 200 today. Most have been poached by militias, particularly Hutu rebels from Rwanda who hack off the ivory and sell it to middlemen in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, who then smuggle it to China.  
    Once ivory has left its country of origin, and if it is not seized by customs officials, it can be hard to identify its source and those responsible for acquiring it. But forensic help may be at hand. Scientists from the University of Washington are using genetic markers in elephant dung to identify exactly where ivory has been poached. This should help governments in countries such as Tanzania and Zambia, which are capable of catching poachers, but not in anarchic eastern Congo, where 120-odd rangers have been killed in Virunga in recent years trying to protect elephants and gorillas.  
    With an influx of businessmen and other officials from China engaged in infrastructure projects such as road building and logging, the slaughter is expected to accelerate. Forest elephants may survive in large numbers only in remote protected pockets of the Congo basin, such as the Odzala-Koukoua National Park in Congo-Brazzaville and Minkebe National Park in northeast Gabon.
Why those elephants dwell in forests may be a distinct species?
选项 A、Biological evidences are insufficient to support this point of view.
B、The high price of ivory entices more killings of elephants.
C、Their number is too small to be of a species.
D、A serious disease broke out among the elephants and sharply decreased their number.
答案B
解析 本题重点在于理解第一段中“But not for long，at the latest rate of poaching”这一句。如果在这里尚不理解poaching的意思，接着看下一句“The high price of ivory is increasing the incentive to kill elephants everywhere in Africa，and especially in places where mere is Virtually no law”，由此可知是因为要获取象牙而杀死大象，那么再结合选项就可以选出B，其他三项在文中并无相关说明。   
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