In this paper, we present the design and implementation of an integrated object browsing and visual querying system called IVORY(Integrated Visual brOwsing and queRYing system) for object databases. The design goals of IVORY includes provision with a good user interface and compliance to standards. Provision with a good user interface is achieved through IVORY's integrated browsing and querying...

There is a need to characterize Asian elephant ivory and compare with African ivory for controlling illegal trade and implementation of national and international laws. In this paper, we characterize ivory of Asian and African elephants using Schreger angle measurements, elemental analysis {X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), and inductiv...

INTRODUCTION T is limited information on the ivory trade in Lao PDR but the presence of Asian Elephant Elephas maximus populations and a geographic position—situated between the world’s largest ivory traders Thailand and China—as well as the presence of ivory for sale in the country, may suggest an emerging role for the country in the international ivory trade. Six towns known for their involve...

The ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) is an endangered seabird that spends its entire year in the Arctic environment. In the past three decades, threats from various sources have contributed to a >70% decline in Canada. To assess the annual habitat needs of this species, we attached satellite transmitters to 12 ivory gulls on Seymour Island, Nunavut in 2010, which provided up to four breeding seas...

Species (Cites) in 1989, to halt the steep decline in elephant numbers. “Wild elephant populations were decimated by the ivory trade. By the time the 1989 Cites ban came into force, Africa’s elephants had been reduced by more than 50 per cent,” says Mark Jones, programmes director at Care for the Wild, an international wildlife charity which commissioned the mammoth ivory report. “Poaching cont...

Species (Cites) in 1989, to halt the steep decline in elephant numbers. “Wild elephant populations were decimated by the ivory trade. By the time the 1989 Cites ban came into force, Africa’s elephants had been reduced by more than 50 per cent,” says Mark Jones, programmes director at Care for the Wild, an international wildlife charity which commissioned the mammoth ivory report. “Poaching cont...

Despite the 1989 ivory trade ban, elephants continue to be killed to harvest their tusks for ivory. Since 2008, this poaching has increased to unprecedented levels driven by consumer demand for ivory products. CITES is now considering the development of a legal ivory trade [1, 2]. The proposal relies on three assumptions: (1) harvest regulation will cease all illegal activities, (2) defined sus...

In response to significant elephant population declines in the 1970s and 1980s because of poaching for ivory, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned the international trade in Asian and African elephant species by listing them on Appendix I in 1973 and 1989, respectively. Many southern African countries disagreed with the African e...

The illegal ivory trade recently intensified to the highest levels ever reported. Policing this trafficking has been hampered by the inability to reliably determine geographic origin of contraband ivory. Ivory can be smuggled across multiple international borders and along numerous trade routes, making poaching hotspots and potential trade routes difficult to identify. This fluidity also makes ...

The illegal trade in elephant ivory is driving the unlawful killing of elephants such that populations are now suffering unsustainable reductions. The internet is increasingly being used as a platform to conduct illegal wildlife trade, including elephant ivory. As a globally accessible medium the internet is as highly attractive to those involved in the illegal trade as it is challenging to reg...