Elephant poo holds poaching clue

7 October 2004

Poachers who kill to get valuable tusks threaten elephants across Africa. Now information from the DNA in elephant poo is leading scientists to the ivory's origin. Pointing poaching police to the source could save elephant populations in peril.

antenna picks up the trail.

Image: ZSL copyright

Park rangers and researchers all over Africa have been donning rubber gloves to pick up elephant poo. This gets flown - along with elephant skin samples - straight to scientists at the University of Washington.
What did they do with the poo?

The scientists zoomed in on particular genes within the DNA from the dung. They then made a map showing how often different versions of these elephant genes occur across the continent.

Image: Center for Conservation Biology

Image: National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A, (2004)

The researchers didn't have samples from all elephant habitats, which meant their map had areas missing. But some crafty statistics helped them fill in gaps in the gene frequency map.

Samuel Wasser, conservation biologist, University of Washington

Image: IFAW

'It's possible to determine the origin of an illegal tusk by extracting DNA and comparing it to the gene frequency map.'
Samuel Wasser, conservation biologist, University of Washington
'If you can accurately say where the elephant ivory is coming from, we would know more about the illegal trade. The more we know, the better the chance we have of protecting elephant populations worldwide.'
Callum Rankine, biologist, World Wide Fund for Nature

Image: IFAW

'The technique is already being used to investigate the origin of a 6.5 tonne seizure - the largest since the international ban in 1989.'
Emily Kisamo, director working in wildlife crime prevention, Lusaka Agreement Task Force

Image: IFAW

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