Tracking the illegal ivory trade
Genetic test of ivory source could help thwart elephant poachers
 Despite
the international ban on selling African elephant ivory, poaching is still
widespread. Law enforcers may soon have a new tool for cracking down on elephant
poachers: a genetic analysis of ivory can help show which part of Africa it came
from.
"[This method] enables determination of where stronger antipoaching
efforts are needed and provides the basis for monitoring the extent of the
trade," say Kenine Comstock and Elaine Ostrander of the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, and Samuel Wasser of the
University of Washington in Seattle in the December issue of Conservation
Biology.
African elephants dropped from 1.3 million to 600,000 during the 1980s, and
international trade in their ivory was banned in 1989 by CITES (the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species). But poaching still continues and
last year the Singapore government seized 6.5 tons of ivory, the largest seizure
in the history of the ivory trade. "The flow of illegal ivory appears to
have markedly increased in the past year," says Wasser. One of the problems
is that poachers can be hard to spot, especially in the forests of Central
Africa.
To help track the source of illegal ivory, Comstock and her colleagues
extended a genetic test they had developed that can distinguish blood and tissue
samples of elephants from different parts of Africa. The test can distinguish
forest elephants from savanna elephants, and can even distinguish elephants from
different part of the savanna (such as north-central savanna and
eastern-southern savanna). Depending on where the elephants came from, the test
is 80- 95% accurate.
The researchers adapted their genetic test to ivory, using African elephant
tusks that were at least 10-20 years old. Even though tusks are teeth, they
still contain some DNA and the researchers found that a small amount of ivory
(120 mg, or a cubic centimeter) was enough for the test.
Being able to track the origin of illicit African elephant ivory could help
law enforcers pinpoint where poaching is the heaviest, which in turn could both
increase ivory seizure rates and deter poachers. In addition, several southern
African countries want to relax the ivory ban because they have stores of ivory
and lots of elephants. If CITES agrees, being able to track the source of ivory
could show if relaxing the ban in southern Africa leads to an increase in
elephant poaching in other parts of the continent. - Society for Conservation
Biology.
More information:
Contact:
Samuel Wasser: 206-543-1669, wassers@u.washington.edu
Useful websites:
The University of Washington's Center for Conservation Biology http://depts.washington.edu/conserv/programs.html
Society for Conservation Biology
http://conservationbiology.org/
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