Identification of commonly traded wildlife products Scott Roberton Wildlife Conservation Society

Why wildlife products….. A large proportion of the illegal trade consists of products and parts of wildlife Law enforcement efforts are increasing each year yet most agencies suffer from limited capacity and resources to achieve their mandate. The ability of these agencies to identify wildlife products has been highlighted as an important area for improvement to increase prosecutions and also the ability to monitor the trade more effectively. This training module has been developed to accompany the handbook also developed by WCS and we aim to provide a practical approach to the identification of commonly traded illegal wildlife products.

What wildlife products…..

Ivory Common substitutes for elephant ivory: Teeth and tusks of mammals Common species: elephant, mammoth, hippo, narwhal, walrus Whole pieces, solid cut-pieces, worked tips and decorative objects Common substitutes for elephant ivory: Buffalo, cow and elephant bone Plastic, stone Wild pig tusks Hippo canines Tagua ‘ivory’ nuts Mammoth ivory

Look for the Schreger Pattern = Hashed pattern, stacked chevrons The most important feature of Elephant ivory, unique to living elephants and the extinct Mammoths is the hashed, netted pattern running down the length of the tusk. Stronger and easier to view on the edges, but natural growth rings mean it’s a repeated pattern on cross-section. A key thing is that sellers want to demonstrate they are selling REAL ivory and so where possible they will show the pattern, making your job easier

Vs

Identifying elephant ivory from manufactured substances Look for Schreger pattern Burn a bit and smell Examine under long wave UV light Mostly composites: Resins, Casein/Resin, Ivory sawdust/Resin Even when they mix in ivory dust with resin – it will still absorb the UV light and reflect a dull blue Fake Ivory

Identifying elephant ivory from bone Bone does NOT have Schreger lines Bone does have pits/scratches on the surface.. (Haversian canals) Only DNA analysis can confirm which species the bone comes from?

Identifying elephant ivory from wild pig tusks / Hippo canines Wild pig tusks/Hippo canines do NOT have Schreger lines Wild pig tusks ARE strongly curved and triangular in cross-section Hippo canines ARE oval/triangular in cross-section Hippo canines HAVE fine concentric lines on cross-section

Identifying the Tagua Nut, the “ivory nut” NO Schreger lines Cross section shows fine concentric lines Look for any signs of dark brown husk Add a small drop of sulfuric acid an in 10 mins it will turn pink

Rhino horn Sold for TCM, jewellery, wine cups Common species: Poorly known but species from both Africa and Asia are traded Substituted with buffalo/cow horn tips, resin, keratin fibres Rhino horn is not the same as horns of cows & buffalos as does not have a bony core

Identifying Rhino horn from bamboo root, resin and bone substitutes Burn a small piece – Real horns (not only rhino) smell of burned hair You can peel layers of keratin from real horns like wood. You cannot do this in bone/resin substitutes

Identifying Rhino horn from buffalo horn tip… With lots of experience you can do this simply by looking at the product, but it is unlikely you will see many of these DNA analysis is the most reliable and accurate method

Skins Probably one of the most commonly traded products Sold for decoration, Trophies, Traditional Asian Medicine Common species: Cats, Otters, Crocodiles, Snakes Common substitutes: Common animals dyed to look like valuable skin Synthetic materials

How to spot a fake…. Takes practice and familiarisation with real skins (why museums are so important !!) Look in detail at the coloration and pattern Fake skins often have repetitive patterns, little variation and simply look unnatural Fake skins often get the colours wrong Often use Dyes with stencils, rub to see if colour comes off

Summary No-one learnt how to do this by being told once – we don’t expect you to either Practice, Practice and Practice Read Practice, practice and PRACTICE You have museums, markets selling wildlife products and traders selling them – use these resources to help you agencies capacity Thankyou