Trade in Siberian Mammoth Tusks could Aid in Elephant Extinctions

The once diverse and widespread Order Proboscidea (animals with trunks) have very few representatives left on planet Earth.  Of the Elephants, these once quite common creatures are restricted to Africa and parts of Asia, however, trade in the ivory of long-dead members of the Elephantidae family – Mammoths, could harm existing populations of these animals.  Scientists warn that the Mammoth ivory trade could threaten extant elephant populations.

Mammoth Ivory Trade

Mammoths have been known for many thousands of years.  Humans relationship with the Mammoth goes back a very long way, the cave paintings of these hairy, long tusked creatures by our ancestors are testament to this relationship.  They are perhaps the most well researched animals from the Ice Ages and recent films such as the Ice Age trilogy have made “Manny the Mammoth” almost as popular as Tyrannosaurus rex.  Indeed, in the Everything Dinosaur annual prehistoric animal popularity survey, the Woolly Mammoth usually comes out in the top ten and is the often the most popular non-dinosaur animal.

The permafrost in Siberia is melting, as climate change takes affect.  So much fossil material is being discovered that a trade in dead Mammoth ivory has sprung up.  The trade has actually been around for over 100 years or so.  In the 19th Century, the native herds-people of Siberia used to regard the exposed carcases of Mammoths with fear.  Many of these people believed the Mammoths to be giant moles that were very much alive and to approach a thawing carcase would bring disease and bad luck.

The very last Mammoths, a population of dwarf Woolly Mammoths lived on Wrangel Island, to the north of Siberia. This isolated population became extinct only 4,000 years ago, just a few hundred years before the great Egyptian civilisation came about.

An Ice Age Woolly Mammoth Herd

Trade in Mammoth ivory could threaten modern elephants.

Picture credit: Schleich of Germany

To view Schleich prehistoric animals and other models including Schleich dinosaurs: Schleich Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.

A new study, undertaken by Care for the Wild, a conservation charity, suggests that up to sixty tons of ivory is taken from Siberia each year.  The amount of Mammoth ivory entering the global market now exceeds that from elephants, most of which is obtained by illegal poaching in sub-Saharan Africa.  So plentiful are the Mammoth remains, that some Russian businessmen have taken to hiring planes to scour the vast tundra so that rotting carcases can be spotted and the ivory removed.  This growing trade in prehistoric ivory has raised concerns over the effect on extant species of elephant.  The Mammoths may be fossils, but they are not permineralised, the ivory is not replaced by minerals.  The fossils are firstly, too young for full permineralistion to occur and their method of preservation, essentially frozen in the permafrost, like being stored in a giant freezer permits the organic ivory and other material to remain intact.

Some conservation groups are concerned that real elephant ivory could be passed off as Mammoth ivory, thus permitting the poaching network a route to market.  In the meantime, we shall continue to monitor the situation.

The author of this new study, Esmond Martin, an expert in the ivory trade; stated:

“Every year from mid-June when the tundra melts until mid-September, hundreds of people search the tundra in northern Siberia looking for Mammoth tusks”.

Scientists have estimated that the frozen north of Russia may still contain an estimated 150 million dead Mammoths, however, the exploitation of the Mammoths as a resource is also denying palaeontologists the chance to study these extinct animals.

A spokesperson for Everything Dinosaur commented:

“It is important to remember that we still have a great deal to learn about these amazing creatures [Woolly Mammoths], the ransacking of the tundra for Mammoth ivory is denying scientists the opportunity to study the remains properly.  As climate change affects our own species, we have the opportunity to learn about how temperature changes led to the demise of another large mammal species.”

The report is published in “Pachyderm” a journal focusing on elephant conservation.  It is published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.  Rather than taking the pressure off those elephant species that remain, the huge amount of Mammoth ivory coming onto the global market could lead to increased demand for ivory from any source, including extant elephants.

Esmond Martin, commented that the greatest threat on modern elephants lies in the possibility of Mammoth ivory being exported to Africa, where shipments could be mingled with tusks from African elephants.  The Indian Government has already imposed a complete ban on Mammoth ivory, fearing just such a threat and wanting to protect the few wild Indian elephants that remain.

Mark Jones, a spokesperson for Care for the Wild said:

“The trade in elephant ivory is illegal and we need to monitor anything that might increase the threat to elephants.  The hope must be that this Mammoth ivory will reduce demand but it is changing the whole market and we need to monitor it.”

There is another factor that needs to be considered when examining the trade in Mammoth ivory.  When scientists are working on the thawing carcase of a Mammoth such as Lyuba, the remarkably well preserved baby Mammoth found a few years ago, great care is taken to avoid contamination from germs and other pathogens that may be de-frosting too.  Some of these bugs could be quite harmful to our own species, after all, we have not been exposed to them for thousands of years.  When working with such fossil material there is always the risk of exposure, we suspect that no precautions are taken by the Mammoth ivory hunters.  Trade in Mammoth ivory may not just be deadly to elephants.

East Timor Expedition Reveals Evidence of Giant Rats

Often the subject of urban myths, the brown rats and black rats (members of the Rattus genus) seen in the sewers and subways of cities are sometimes described as being huge.  Some folk claim to have spotted rats the size of a domestic cats.  These highly successful members of the rodent family have certainly benefited from feeding off all the rubbish and fat filled food to be found on and beneath our streets.  However, a scientific expedition to the remote south-east Asian island of East Timor has found evidence of a truly gigantic member of the rat family.

Gigantic Rat Bones

East Timor is an independent state, once formerly a Portuguese colony that covers the eastern part of the island of Timor.  Although much of the island has been deforested, those areas of rain-forest that do remain are dense and largely unexplored by scientific teams.  Archaeological research has unearthed the remains of the biggest rat known to science, an animal with an estimated body weight of six kilogrammes, something like twenty times the size of a black rat (Rattus rattus), a species commonly associated with our cityscapes.

A series of cave excavations in the rain-forest of East Timor has revealed a total of thirteen species of rodents, eleven of which are completely new to science.  The bones and teeth discovered suggest that at least eight of the rats discovered weighed more than a kilogramme.

The Australian/U.S. led expedition, part of CSIRO research on the island of East Timor to map the extensive unique fauna and flora has published their findings in the scientific journal “The Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History”.  The acronym CSIRO stands for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.  It is Australia’s national science agency.

A Hot Spot for Rodent Evolution

Discussing the discovery, Dr Ken Aplin, a wildlife biologist at the Australian National Wildlife Collection stated:

“East Indonesia is a hot spot for rodent evolution.  We want international attention on conservation in that area.  Rodents make up forty percent of mammalian diversity worldwide and they are a key element of ecosystems, important for processes like soil maintenance and seed dispersal.  Maintaining biodiversity among rats is just as important as protecting whales or birds.”

Carbon dating tests on the bones and teeth found in the cave system suggest that the biggest type of rat that ever lived could have survived until around 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.  Only one of the smaller species of rats whose remains were found in the cave is known to survive on Timor today.

Rats on the Island of Timor

Pictures show a partial skull of the new to science giant rat compared to the skull of a black rat.

Dr Aplin added:

“People have lived on the island of Timor for over 40,000 years and hunted and ate rates throughout this period, yet extinctions did not occur until quite recently.  We think this shows people used to live sustainably on Timor until around 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.  This means extinctions aren’t inevitable when people arrive on an island.  Large scale clearing of forest for agriculture probably caused the extinctions, and this may have been possible following the introduction of metal tools.

A number of the islands of eastern Indonesia evolved their own unique flora and fauna, including unique types of rat and other rodent.  Dr Aplin and his team have also found six new species of rat on the island of Flores.  Flores has been in the scientific media spotlight recently for the discovery in 2003 of a previously known species of human – homo floresiensis, known as the “hobbit” of Indonesia.

Some of these new species of rat, might still be living on Flores according to Dr Aplin, evading detection by western scientists in the dense and remote jungles of this island.

Few Native Mammals

The island of Timor has few native mammals, the strong tidal currents making the migration of such animals to Timor very difficult.  The majority of the mammalian fauna is made up of bats and rodents, many of the roles in ecosystems occupied by other mammals may have been filled by these rodents and this may have led to the development and diversification of the rodent species.

Pictures show the partial skull and teeth of East Timor’s extinct giant rat compared to the skull of a black rat (Rattus rattus) on the right.

Commenting on the possibility that new species of rats, even giant ones may still be awaiting discovery, Dr Aplin stated:

“Although less than fifteen per cent of Timor’s original forest cover remains, parts of the island are still heavily forested, so who knows what might be out there?”

He went on to add:

“During a recent field trip in East Timor, I found the remains of a freshly dead rat which we knew about only from cave deposits.”

The largest extant species of rat weigh around two kilogrammes and can be found in the rain-forests of the Philippines and New Guinea.  Unless of course those urban myths about giant rats lurking in sewers underneath our feet are to be believed.

For models and replicas of extinct mammals: Prehistoric Animal Figures and Replicas.

Preserved Feeding Apparatus on Palaeogene Fossils Shows Pelican Beak is Old Hat

A beautifully preserved fossil of the earliest known Pelican, a fossil dating from the Oligocene Epoch shows that Pelicans have had their unusual beaks and pouches for at least 30 million years.  It seems that as far as the Pelican is concerned, if something isn’t broken it does not need fixing, the feeding apparatus of these birds seems unchanged for 30 million years.  If an organism or a part of an organism remains unchanged for a very long period of time, scientists call this “evolutionary stasis”.  It seems that the shape of the Pelican’s beak has remained unchanged for millions of years.

Earliest Known Pelican

The significance of this fossil was not realised at the time of its discovery in finely grained limestone deposits in a region of south-eastern France (Luberon).  It was only when a French scientist examined this specimen in a colleague’s collection that the importance of this fossil and its baring on bird evolution became clear.

Dr Antoine Louchart of the University of Lyon, realised the significance of this fossil, when reviewing a number of fossils held by his colleague Nicolas Tourment, who is an avid collector of fossils from south-eastern France.  The fossil shows that Pelicans and their huge beaks have survived unchanged since the Oligocene epoch.  The team’s findings have been published in the scientific publication “The Journal of Ornithology”.

Bought from a Collector