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Poachers kill thousands of African elephants each for ivory.
Photo: Ben Curtis/AP
Information lies dormant in the tusks of elephants, encoded in the strands of DNA.
Scientists now want to use this genetic information to combat the illegal trade in ivory.
To do this, a research team analyzed the DNA of 4,320 elephant tusks seized in a total of 49 law enforcement operations between 2002 and 2019.
A total of 111 tons of ivory was seized in twelve African countries.
According to the authors of the study, combining the results of the DNA investigations with the data available to the law enforcement authorities on the criminal trafficking networks could provide valuable information about the structures and areas used by the poaching and smuggling organizations.
The evaluation was published in the journal »Nature Human Behaviour«.
The comparison with Kot data helps
The researchers examined the confiscated ivory shipments for relationships between the killed animals.
They were able to identify parents, descendants, full and half siblings.
To find out where the elephants came from, the scientists used DNA from elephant droppings collected from across Africa.
Using this faecal data, they were able to create a genetic reference map of the different populations.
DNA analysis of the tusks made it possible to identify the geographic location where the elephants were poached.
Knowledge of the locations, in turn, can be combined with knowledge of the confiscated deliveries and the criminal networks involved.
"We found that a small number of transnational criminal organizations are responsible for exporting most of the large shipments of ivory," said environmental forensic scientist Samuel Wasser, the study's lead author.
There are probably fewer than six such organizations - and the poachers keep returning to the same elephant populations.
Ivory is mostly shipped
The ivory is usually exported by ship.
Most of the ivory is shipped in large shipments of up to 10 tons, hidden under goods crossing the world's oceans on container ships.
According to the scientist Wasser, the largest amount of ivory is currently smuggled out of Uganda via the seaport of Mombasa.
Ports in Kenya and Nigeria are also frequently used.
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Two species of elephants were studied for the study - the savannah and the forest elephants, which live on the African continent.
The third elephant species in the world, the Asian elephant, was not included in the study.
Many tusks came from elephants poached in the Kavango-Zambezi Transboundary Conservation Area.
This area includes parts of five states, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Angola and Zimbabwe.
230,000 of the remaining 400,000 African elephants live there.
The illegal ivory trade has had a drastic impact on animal populations.
"We lose up to 50,000 African elephants a year," Wasser said.
The study makes connections between ivory exports visible
Also involved in the study was John Brown, a detective with the US Department of Homeland Security.
He said the forensic DNA analysis provided a roadmap for a multinational joint investigation.
"It helps us work with our international law enforcement agencies by making them aware of the links between individual seizures," Special Agent Brown said.
The trade in ivory has been banned worldwide since 1989.
But the smuggling goes on.
Demand is greatest in Asia.
vki/Reuters