Genetic evidence can be used to track confiscated rhinoceros horns back to the carcasses they are taken from, according to a study published yesterday (January 8) in Current Biology.
The study highlights nine cases where information from the Rhino DNA Index System (RhODIS), a database that contains DNA samples of around 4,000 animals from black and white rhinoceros populations, was used for the prosecution and sentencing of poachers and traffickers. To date, more than 5,800 rhinoceros crimes have been submitted to the database, and in more than 120 cases, researchers could link poached carcasses to confiscated horns or blood stains on items of evidence.
“The majority of cases in which we have been able to make these individual links have led to convictions and, in many cases, significant sentences,” coauthor Cindy Harper of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at South Africa’s University of Pretoria, tells Nature.
This includes the conviction of ...
