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14-Carbon demonstrates that some illegal ivory is being taken from government stockpiles.
- Source :
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A] 2022 Nov; Vol. 119 (44), pp. e2211550119. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Oct 17. - Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- The 14-carbon in animal tissues records the time that the tissues are formed; since the 1960s, using the "bomb curve" for <superscript>14</superscript> 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 <superscript>14</superscript> 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.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1091-6490
- Volume :
- 119
- Issue :
- 44
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36252102
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2211550119