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Comment by fixxer | Hacker News Reader

I wonder how much rhino/elephant tusk powder sold is actually from the said animal. Seems like a really tough thing to authenticate and an excellent return for the counterfeiter.

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So make it so that every corner store in China has "Authentic Rhino Horn". No one can tell the difference between the real and the fake stuff, discourages buyers from buying, market dries up.

They already do...

http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/132/1321179326....

They'd never know.

I'm not a vet, but I don't imagine ivory contains any DNA so therefore customers couldn't test it for proper rhino/elephant DNA. Would be able to test it with something like MALDI-TOF to properly identify it, but that is not easily accessible outside of academia.

You can get DNA from Ivory.

http://www.pnas.org/content/104/10/4228.full

Bioengineering wildlife products is something my start-up, Pembient, has been working on for a while now.

Interesting, are the tusks vascularized or is the DNA material coming from the interface between tusk and growth center? If the later, could poaches therefore prevent tracking with proper cleaning and preparation of the tusks?

Checked out Pembient, very cool idea and I hope you succeed. Also subscribed to newsletter.

Thanks! Tusks are similar to teeth, so there is a nerve root, etc.

https://www.thedodo.com/community/Elegirl/the-truth-about-tu...

Taking just the tip of a tusk might be the best option for evading a DNA test.

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