Biology

History

Political science

Geography

Ecology

African elephant

Indictment

Genealogy

Nature Human Behaviour

Transnational ivory traffickers continue to smuggle large shipments of elephant ivory out of Africa, yet prosecutions and convictions remain few. We identify trafficking networks on the basis of genetic matching of tusks from the same individual or close relatives in separate shipments. Analyses are drawn from 4,320 savannah (Loxodonta africana) and forest (L. cyclotis) elephant tusks, sampled from 49 large ivory seizures totalling 111 t, shipped out of Africa between 2002 and 2019. Network analyses reveal a repeating pattern wherein tusks from the same individual or close relatives are found in separate seizures that were containerized in, and transited through, common African ports. Results suggest that individual traffickers are exporting dozens of shipments, with considerable connectivity between traffickers operating in different ports. These tools provide a framework to combine evidence from multiple investigations, strengthen prosecutions and support indictment and prosecution of transnational ivory traffickers for the totality of their crimes. Using over 600 genetic matches of elephant tusks from the same individual or close relatives, from 49 ivory seizures across Africa, Wasser et al. reveal the scale, connectivity and movements of transnational criminal organizations that trade in ivory.

Elephant genotypes reveal the size and connectivity of transnational ivory traffickers