BEWARE all ivory poachers. The cops are on your case, thanks to a DNA test that reveals the geographical origin of ivory.
Developed using comparisons of elephant DNA from different regions, the test can theoretically pinpoint to between 500 and 1000 kilometres the origin of a particular sample. In its first use, the test showed that a huge cache of 532 tusks, seized in Singapore in 2002, came mainly from Zambia, not from multiple locations as originally suspected (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0609714104). 鈥淲e were delighted with the results,鈥� says team leader Sam Wasser of the University of Washington, Seattle.
The test also showed that poaching was more widespread in Zambia than the country鈥檚 government had admitted. 鈥淭he number of killed elephants was at least 30 times higher than Zambia indicated,鈥� says Wasser.
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Zambian police have used the findings to close in on poachers and traders. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now working closely with Interpol to analyse many other large seizures in this way,鈥� says Wasser.
