In Brazil, as in many other biodiverse countries around the world, the commercial trade of some species of wildlife is allowed — as long as the animal was bred in captivity and not captured from the wild. But identifying illegally captured wild animals in the possession of authorized breeders has always been a challenge for government agencies in Brazil. In many cases, proof of fraud is only possible through laboratory analysis, but operations to identify wildlife trafficking rarely have access to such technology.
Stable isotope analysis works on the basis that chemical elements can have different compositions of the stable isotopes of that element, depending on the source from where it originates.. The ratios of these stable isotopes to one another vary by region. Hence, finding the isotope ratio of a certain element in the food ingested by an animal, say, from its fur can provide valuable information of its origin and is the equivalent to a barcode that can point to where it came from. Brazil is planning to use stable isotope techniques in operations to identify wildlife trafficking.
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Source: MONGABAY