New research exposing the surprising scale and diversity of Australia’s invertebrate pet trade online highlights the need for better regulation to protect our wildlife and manage biosecurity threats.
The import of ivory into the UK from five more species, including walruses, has been banned.
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Most wildlife is trafficked openly, while dark web markets sell animals, plants and fungi as drugs. But this could change if there’s a clampdown on open trade.
Techniques from the security sector guide a lot of modern conservation work.
Marina Ortega/Alamy Stock Photo
The number of live animals seized by the Australian Government has tripled since 2017, with blue-tongue lizards and sulphur-crested cockatoos frequently captured.
Protesters hold signs outside women’s fashion designer Eudon Choi in London during Fashion Week in 2017.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a harsh light on global commerce in wildlife. But many accounts focus on demand from Asia, ignoring the role of US and European consumers.
The pangolin, one of the most poached animals in the world, could have served as an intermediate host in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans.
Wahyudi/AFP
Covid-19, like other major epidemics, is not unrelated to the biodiversity and climate crisis we are experiencing.
Government officers seize civets in a wildlife market in Guangzhou, China to prevent the spread of SARS in 2004.
Dustin Shum/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Wild animals and animal parts are bought and sold worldwide, often illegally. This multibillion-dollar industry is pushing species to extinction, fueling crime and spreading disease.
Rosewood, the name for several endangered tree species that make beautiful furniture, being loaded in Madagascar.
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For decades nations have worked to curb international sales of endangered plants and animals. But in countries like China, with high demand and speculative investors, that strategy fuels bidding wars.
A red-listed skylark.
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The illegal timber trade is a huge global business worth up to US$150 billion yearly. One way to curb it is by convincing consumers in wealthy countries that buying contraband wood products is wrong.
Anti-corruption bilboard in Uganda.
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Tax fraud combined with dirty money from criminal activity, including trafficking and terrorism – are seriously weakening the economic health of African states.
The endangered ‘fishing cat’ is known to scientists as Prionailurus viverrinus, but is Felis viverrinus in Chinese wildlife law.
Gemma Simpson / shutterstock
Using DNA testing, researchers find that most elephant poaching is happening in two spots – crucial information to stopping the flow of ivory out of Africa.
Directeur de recherche CNRS, systématicien, directeur de l’Institut de systématique, évolution, biodiversité (ISYEB), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)