African elephant is two species, researchers say (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News

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.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12054343

[jody]

1. So what US members of the Elephantidae family aka GOP have two distinct species. n/t

[Towlie]

2. That's easy! There are the rich evil leaders, and the brainless naive Fox-News-watching sheep.

Those are the two species of genus GOP.