Ivory

Ivory is a hard, white, opaque substance that is the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth, etc. Prior to the introduction of plastics, it was used for billiard balls, piano keys, buttons and ornamental items. The word "ivory" was traditionally applied to the tusks of elephants. Plastics have been viewed by piano purists as an inferior ivory substitute on piano keys, although other recently developed materials more closely resemble the feel of real ivory.

Availablity

Due to the rapid decline in the populations of the animals that produce it, the importation and sale of ivory in many countries is banned or severely restricted. Much of the decline in population is due to poachers during and before the 1980s. Since the worldwide ivory trade ban in 1989 there have been ups and downs in elephant populations, and ivory trade as bans have been placed and lifted. Many African countries including Zimbabwe and South Africa claim that ivory trade is necessary—both to stimulate their economies and reduce elephant populations which are allegedly harming the environment. In 2002 the United Nations partially lifted the ban on ivory trade, allowing a few countries to export certain amounts of ivory. Yet, a 1999 study done by Oxford University found that less than one percent of the five-hundred million US dollars ivory sales generate ever reach Africans; most of it goes to middlemen and vendors, so the effectiveness of the policy is in question.

Related Topics:
Poachers - 1980s - 1989 - Zimbabwe - South Africa - 2002 - United Nations - 1999 - Oxford University

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Kenya, which saw its elephant populations plummet in the decade preceding the 1989 ban, claims that legalizing ivory trade anywhere in Africa will endanger elephants everywhere in Africa as poachers would attempt to launder their illegal ivory with legal stockpiles.

Related Topics:
Kenya - 1989

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Trade in the ivory from the tusks of dead mammoths has occurred for 300 years and continues to be legal. Mammoth ivory is used today to make handcrafted knives and similar implements.

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A species of hard nut is gaining popularity as a replacement for ivory, although its size limits its usability. It is sometimes called vegetable ivory, or tagua, and is the seed endosperm of the ivory nut palm commonly found in coastal rainforests of Ecuador and Peru. http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/26/vegivory/index.html

Related Topics:
Vegetable ivory - Seed - Endosperm - Ivory nut palm - Rainforest - Ecuador - Peru

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