Why Do Elephants Rarely Get Cancer?
Why do elephants rarely get cancer ? With their bodies having a hundred times more cells than humans, you'd think that they would be a hundred times more likely to see the development of cancerous cells. But that's not the case. In fact, studies show that fewer than 5% of the animals die of cancer, compared with up to a quarter of humans.
There could be some interesting repercussions for cancer research. Dr Joshua Schiffman is an oncologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine in the US.
(Photo: A four-day old female Asian elephant called Nandita and her mother Thi Hi Way are pictured in the enclosure at Chester Zoo in north-west England, on August 24, 2015. Credit: PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)
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