The defense of an elephant never forgets

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The defense of an elephant never forgets

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AS Siberian permafrost melts, it reveals an increasing number of woolly mummouth defenses old millennia. These old defenses could address part of the global ivory demand for endangered African elephants. But not enough. Between poaching and loss of habitat, populations of African elephants have dropped in recent decades.

To try to escape the law, some smugglers mix the ivory of Mammoth legally traced with the ivory of smuggling elephant, and it is difficult to distinguish between these parents without costly tests – dating with radiocarbon and molecular analysis – which can take weeks to give answers.

Thus, scientists at the University of Hong Kong proposed a less expensive and faster solution to keep the defenses of African elephants out of trade. By comparing the ratios of the isotopes of certain elements in the defenses, the police could easily identify the proboscidians who were the subject of ivory, according to the results recently published in Boundaries in ecology and evolution.

The team analyzed 79 ivory pieces, which included 44 elephant samples and 35 mammoths. They inspected the relationships of five elements – sulfur, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen – to determine which would be the most useful for distinguishing animals.

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In the end, the reports of isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen seemed to provide the clearest results.

This is due to their separate places, noted the document: the water formerly sipped by mammoths in high latitude regions like Siberia contains relationships of unique isotopes compared to those of the water consumed by elephants in tropical spots.

But the technique has not yet been perfected. Researchers noted that aspects such as the age of an animal or the specific part of sampled defense may have an impact on the results. Although the test is not yet ready for the courtroom, the team notes in a statement that it could already offer a “first rapid and efficient screening stage”. And help the African elephant not yet follow the path of the woolly mammoth.