Thursday, October 20, 2016

Journal 8 By John

The Ivory Trade In Africa

     It was in 1979 that the elephant population was estimated around 1.3 million but by 1989 the number dropped dramatically to 600,000. It was because of the elephant tusk is made up of Ivory and is considered very valuable in the world of medicine and as just a nice centerpiece in a home. But the main reason why they where killed for there ivory was because at that time it was worth around $300 per kilogram. It wasn't until October of 1989 at the seventh meeting of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) when governments decided to ban the international trade on ivory tusks. Since then the few years after the elephant population increased immensely. For example, Kenya went from 163,000 in 1973 to 16,000 in 1989 right before the banning of elephant tusks, now today it is estimated that about 30,000 elephants roam Kenya. But it is till sad to find out that the illegal trade of ivory is still happening to this very day.

The men are from around 1880-1890. This picture I believe helps show not only how big this trade was but also the amount of elephants that were killed because of the value of their tusks.

The source that I used for this subject was very useful for me. I loved that it gave me bullet points of facts and information and were on point of what I was looking for in a source. I also liked that the source gave me a little up-to-date info at the very end, almost like "this is what is was before they made a change to, here si what its like now because we made the change."






3 comments:

  1. Great job John! This gave me a stronger knowledge of the ivory trade in Africa. This subject is very sad and it is upsetting to hear it is still happening today

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  2. Great job! You did a fantastic job explaining the ivory trade in Africa. It's really sad to hear that it is still happening.

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  3. People will do anything to get money, even if it means expending mass amounts of a species. Good job with the information, and I agree, it's sad that people are so cruel.

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