Ivory trade

Group of men holding elephant tusks
Ivory traders, c. 1912

The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal,[1] black and white rhinos, mammoth,[2] and most commonly, African and Asian elephants.

Ivory has been traded for hundreds of years by people in Africa and Asia, resulting in restrictions and bans. Ivory was formerly used to make piano keys and other decorative items because of the white color it presents when processed but the piano industry abandoned ivory as a key covering material in the 1980s in favor of other materials such as plastic. Also, synthetic ivory has been developed which can be used as an alternative material for making piano keys.

  1. ^ Lavers, Chris (2009). The Natural History of Unicorns. USA: William Morris. pp. 112–150. ISBN 978-0-06-087414-8.
  2. ^ Kramer, Andrew E. (19 November 2008). "Trade in mammoth ivory, helped by global thaw, flourishes in Russia". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 December 2009.

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