14-Carbon demonstrates that some illegal ivory is being taken from government stockpiles.
other · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36252102.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1073/pnas.2211550119 and PMC identifier 9636901.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The 14-carbon in animal tissues records the time that the tissues are formed; since the 1960s, using the "bomb curve" for <sup>14</sup>C, the age of animal death can be determined accurately. Using animal tissue samples of known collection and formation dates for calibration, we determine the age of ivory samples from four ivory seizures made by law enforcement agencies between 2017 and 2019. The <sup>14</sup>C measurements from these seizures show that most ivory in the illegal wildlife trade is from animals from recent poaching activities. However, one seizure has a large fraction of ivory that is more than 30 y old, consistent with markings on the tusks indicating they were derived from a government stockpile.
Medical subject headings
- Elephants