A new study suggests that as few as three major criminal groups are responsible for smuggling the vast majority of elephant ivory tusks out of Africa.
on international commercial ivory trade hasn’t stopped the decline. Each year, an estimated 1.1 million pounds of poached elephant tusks are shipped from Africa, mostly to Asia.For the past two decades, Wasser has fixated on a few key questions: "Where is most of the ivory being poached, who is moving it, and how many people are they?"
In 2004, Wasser demonstrated that DNA from elephant tusks and dung could be used to pinpoint their home location to within a few hundred miles. In 2018, he recognized that finding identical DNA in tusks from two different ivory seizures meant they were harvested from the same animal – and likely trafficked by the same poaching network.
Such genetic links can provide a blueprint for wildlife authorities seeking other evidence – cell phone records, license plates, shipping documents and financial statements – to link different ivory shipments.
Österreich Neuesten Nachrichten, Österreich Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
UN: Drought 'catastrophe' in Horn of Africa could push millions into famineThe UN's food agency has asked for more than $130 million in aid in a bid to avert a looming drought in the Horn of Africa that has left more than 1.5 million livestock dead.
Weiterlesen »
BioNTech to ship mRNA vaccine factory kits to AfricaGermany's BioNTech has developed a vaccine factory made from shipping containers that it plans to ship to Africa as assembly kits to ease what the World Health Organization has described as huge disparities in global COVID-19 vaccine access.
Weiterlesen »
After Blow of Beijing, Olympians Ask: What About Africa?African representation in the Winter Olympics has shriveled since a record eight African nations, fielding twice as many athletes as in Beijing, competed in 2018.
Weiterlesen »
Tracing DNA of related elephants reveals illegal ivory trafficking networksAfrican elephants have drastically dwindled as targets of the illegal ivory trade, but the DNA contained within their tusks is pointing to the very criminal networks that poached them.
Weiterlesen »
Scientists have found a way to expose poaching criminal networks using DNA from seized elephant tusksDNA from 4,320 tusks of savannah elephants African savanna elephant tusks has been utilized to identify networks for trafficking ivory out of Africa.
Weiterlesen »
Elephant tusk DNA sleuthing reveals ivory trafficking networksDNA testing on seized ivory shipments that reveals family ties among African elephants killed for their tusks is helping to identify poaching areas and trafficking networks at the center of an illegal trade that continues to devastate the population of Earth's largest land animal. Researchers said on Monday they conducted DNA tests on 4,320 elephant tusks from 49 ivory seizures, totaling 111 tons in 12 African nations from 2002 to 2019. The results could help crack the transnational criminal organizations behind the trafficking and strengthen prosecutions.
Weiterlesen »