Scientists Discover Ivory DNA Secrets

In order to battle the illegal trade of ivory, the scientists of Edinburgh Zoo are trying to create a laboratory of genetics in Cambodia. The laboratory in association with three other partners is working on a project that is funded by the United Kingdom’s department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. They are trying to preserve the wildlife of Cambodia and fight the illegal trade of ivory that is passing through the continent.

The scientists were trying to save the elephants when they came across the ivory from some other animal that has now become extinct. Cambodia falls on the route through which ivory is smuggled from Africa and Asia. Dr Alex Ball of the Wild Genes Laboratory of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland said that elephants are slaughtered in thousands of numbers all across Africa. The most important thing about Cambodia is that they know very little about the illegal trade of ivory happening there, he added.

There are about 500 elephants in Cambodia jungles. Dr Ball noted that they can separate the dentine and calcium and get the cells out of the ivory, which will help them to identify the person who grew the tusk.

Dr. Helen Senn, who is the head of conservation at the Royal Zoological Society, Scotland said that mostly endangered species are unusual genetically. She added that often agricultural science and medicine are not interested in them.

In the case of Cambodian samples of ivory, the scientists have come across something unique – DNA of Woolly Mammoth. Dr Ball said that in a country like Cambodia, they found the samples of mammoth inside the ivory that is being sold, which means these are dug out from Arctic Tundra. He added that the shop owners who are selling it are calling it the ivory of elephants, but scientists have found that they actually belong to the mammoths.

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