Alternative sources

Some alternatives for ivory are mammoth tusks. These ancient mammals are being dug up for there tusks  or the tusks are being bought off museums and archeologists for astronomical prices. The idea of mammoth ivory has spurred on archeologists to find more of these great mammals for there tusks. There is estimated to be over 10 million mammoths still buried in Siberia alone. Another source for ivory is what is known as vegetable ivory. This alternative source is made of the seed endosperm of the ivory nut palm. This tree is commonly found in coastal rain forests of Ecuador, Peru and Columbia

Ivory Ban

The ivory ban put in place by citys to protect elephants and other ivory producing animals only solved part of the problem the ban only outlaws the hunting and poaching of elephants etc.

The ban doesn’t outlaw the trade of ivory. This means that an ivory already out in the world can be sold and traded as wished. This also means that ivory has gone up in value due to its availability. The high price of ivory has encouraged poachers to hunt elephants illegally for their ivory tusks. If citys had banned thee trade of ivory as well then they would eliminate the problem , unable to sell the ivory legitimately poachers would have to sell it illegally this would cut the amount of people who want to by ivory and make transporting the ivory much harder and more costly. Eventually the entire process would become so costly for the poaches that they would end up losing money and give up.

Ivory trade

Sources

Ivory used to be sourced from Africa the ivory mostly came from elephants but came from hippo teeth as well. A much smaller amount of ivory was sourced from narwhale horns, walrus tusks and whale teeth.  Ivory was also sourced from Asia; this ivory also mostly came from elephants.

 Now that ivory trade is mostly illegal ivory has increased in price and is sold on the black market by poachers who hunt the elephants and hippos. Now days it is also sourced from fossilized mammoths, this is legal because it is not endangering any “living” creatures. A species of hard nut is being used as a replacement for ivory although it has limited usability due to its size. It is sometimes called vegetable ivory and is the seed endosperm of the ivory nut palm commonly found in coastal rainforests of Ecuador. Until 2007 you were even able to purchase elephant ivory on eBay until they were pressured into banning it by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

African elephant sources:

Asian elephant sources:

Supposed narwhale Ivory buyers:

Supposed elephant ivory buyers:

Supposed walrus ivory buyers:








By Jordan Woodhouse