Ivory

 𝐈𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐲 is a 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 from the 𝐭𝐮𝐬𝐤𝐬 and 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡 of 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬, that consists mainly of 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞.𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐲, ivory can also be produced 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, hence 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 the retrieval of the material from animals.

The trade of finished goods of ivory products has its origins in the 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲.Ivory has been valued since ancient times in 𝐚𝐫𝐭 or 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 for making a range of items from 𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 to 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡, 𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐬, 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬, and 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐞𝐬.𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡 and 𝐭𝐮𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐲 can be carved into a vast variety of shapes and objects. Examples of modern carved ivory objects are 𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨, 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐞𝐬, 𝐣𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐫𝐲, 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬, and 𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐬. 

The 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 and 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 in 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐲 of 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 such as 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 and 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 is 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥.Owing 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. 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 preceding a decision in 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟗 by 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒 to 𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 in 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐲, the 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  of 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 from 𝟏.𝟑 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 to around 𝟔𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎.