How DNA Sleuthing Can Help Save Elephants From Poaching

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The Daily Beast
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These scientists used genetic testing to identify not just is tusks came from the same elephant, but also if they came from the same family of elephants

thedailybeast.com
How DNA Sleuthing Can Help Save Elephants From Poaching
Genetics can reveal the shared origin points of separate ivory shipments, which should help make it easier to prosecute elephant poachers and smugglers.
10:40 AM · Feb 14, 2022

https://www.thedailybeast.com/dna-testing-of-elephant-ivory-is-helping-department-of-homeland-security-stop-illegal-poaching?via=Twitter page


Forensic science is getting better every year, and even animal conservationists are harnessing it to stop illegal poaching and trading. In findings published today in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, University of Washington scientists outline their work with the US. Department of Homeland of Security to uncover an international network of elephant ivory traffickers—all thanks to DNA testing.

The new study, which tested more than 4,000 African elephant tusks seized over 17 years in 12 African nations, shows the grave extent of illegal ivory trading across the world. But it also provides some insights that could help authorities shut down these trade networks and bolster efforts to protect elephant species in Africa.

“These methods are showing us that a handful of networks are behind a majority of smuggled ivory, and that the connections between these networks are deeper than even our previous research showed,” Samuel Wasser, a UW biologist who led the new study, said in a statement.

Wasser and his team aren’t new to this work—they released findings in 2018 that used genetic testing to identify tusks that came from the same elephant but were separated and smuggled into different shipments before seizure. Armed with the knowledge of how shipments in different parts of the world came from the same origin point, authorities were able to pin down popular illegal trade routes involving three African ports (Mombasa, Kenya; Entebbe, Uganda; and Lomé, Togo.)

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