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 Scientists said on Thursday genetic tests on 28 large ivory
seizures, each more than half a ton, pinpointed the geographic
origin of the tusks from the two types of African elephant, the
savanna elephant and the somewhat smaller forest elephant.
"We were very, very surprised to find that over the last decade
almost all of these seizures came from just two places in Africa,"
said University of Washington biologist Samuel Wasser, whose study
appears in the journal Science.
Using dung, hair and tissue samples from elephants across the
continent, the scientists devised a map showing where various
populations lived based on DNA traits. They extracted DNA from
seized ivory and identified the location where elephants with
matching DNA live.
 Most seized savanna elephant tusks came from a region spanning parts
of southeastern Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Most forest
elephant tusks came from a region covering parts of northeastern
Gabon, northwestern Republic of Congo and southwestern Central
African Republic.
"Targeting these areas for law enforcement could stop the largest
amount of poaching-related mortality in Africa and choke at the
major sources of ivory fueling the criminal networks that allow this
transnational organized crime to operate," Wasser said.
Wasser said major populations would be "poached to extinction"
without decisive action. "We are currently losing an estimated
50,000 African elephants a year to poaching, and there are only
about 470,000 elephants remaining in the population. So, that is
about a 10th of the population being lost each year," Wasser said.
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"This loss rate must be contained. Stopping (ivory) demand is too
slow to do it alone. We urgently need to stop the killing."
A worldwide ivory trade ban was approved in 1989 after Africa's
elephant population plunged from 1.2 million to 600,000 that decade.
But illegal trade continues, with demand strong in China, some other
Asian countries and in places including the United States.
Bill Clark of Interpol's environmental crime program, who
participated in the research, said the DNA work helps his
organization decide where to focus efforts combating ivory
trafficking.
"There have been abundant indicators of the ivory being used to
finance various militant groups as well as organized crime," Clark
said.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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