1. Identification of commonly traded wildlife products
Scott Roberton
Wildlife Conservation Society

2. 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.

3. What wildlife products…..

4. 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

5. 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

6. Vs

7. 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

8. 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?

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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