Mammoth ivory hunting in Siberia: economic, environmental and palaeontological considerations

Christopher Hastings

doi:10.33265/polar.v44.10874

Christopher Hastings Special Collections and University Archives, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5829-497X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v44.10874

Keywords: Climate change, tundra, permafrost, Sakha (Yakutia), Mammuthus primigenius, ivory trade

Abstract

Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) tusks sell for a substantial price that proves to be an economic lifeline for many in the area of the Republic of Sakha, Russia. Ivory is extracted from permafrost through a variety of legal and illegal methods and sold abroad to China, western Europe and North America. The ivory trade revolves around three main dilemmas. The ethical balances the needs of people in Sakha with palaeontological, environmental and cultural preservation. The economic presents a struggling regional economy with an accessible and lucrative opportunity. The environment sees the ivory hunting practices decimate areas of protected tundra. This paper discusses these issues and seeks to look at the future of the mammoth ivory trade.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Arctic Russia 2023. Mammoth hunting: business or poaching. Accessed on the internet at https://arctic-russia.ru/en/article/mammoth-hunting-business-or-poaching/ on 14 March 2025.

Argounova-Low T. 2023. Sensing the life of material: mammoth ivory and craftsmen’s work. Sibirica 22(3), 1–21, doi: 10.3167/sib.2023.220301.

Arzyutov D.V. 2019. Environmental encounters: woolly mammoth, indigenous communities and metropolitan scientists in the Soviet Arctic. Polar Record 55, 142–153, doi: 10.1017/S0032247419000299.

Chapple A. 2016. The mammoth pirates. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Accessed on the internet at https://www.rferl.org/a/the-mammoth-pirates/27939865.html on 14 March 2025.

Chapple A. 2017. The mammoth pirates. Imgur. Accessed on the internet at https://imgur.com/a/nmkxl on 25 March 2025.

Chu P.-Y. 2021. The life of permafrost: a history of frozen earth in Russian and Soviet science. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Cox C. & Hauser L. 2023. Ice ivory to white gold: links between the illegal ivory trade and the grade in geocultural artifacts. Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy 26, 22–46, doi: 10.1080/13880292.2023.2217615.

Czerniawska J. & Chlachula J. 2020. Climate-change induced permafrost degradation in Yakutia, east Siberia. Arctic 73, 509–528, doi: 10.14430/arctic71674.

Digby B. 1925. The mammoth and mammoth-hunting in north-east Siberia. London: H.F. & G. Witherby.

Farah N. & Boyce J.R. 2019. Elephants and mammoths: the effect of an imperfect legal substitute on illegal activity. Environment and Development Economics 24, 225–251, doi: 10.1017/S1355770X18000554.

Ferris E. 2020. Russia and the woolly mammoth trade: how climate change drives illegal tusk trafficking. RUSI. Accessed on the internet at https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/russia-and-woolly-mammoth-trade-how-climate-change-drives-illegal-tusk-trafficking on 14 March 2025.

GlobeScan Incorporated 2021. Demand under the ban: China ivory consumption research 2020. Accessed on the internet at https://globescan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/WWF_GlobeScan_China_Ivory_Consumption_Research_2020_Report.pdf on 14 March 2025.

InvestYakutia n.d. Catalogue of investment projects of Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Accessed on the internet at https://www.hik-russland.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CATALOGUE-1.pdf on 14 March 2025.

Ivanova S. 2019. Glava Yakutii: v 2020 godu v Rossii poyavitsja zakon o mamontovoj faune. (Head of Yakutia: in 2020, a law on mammoth fauna will appear in Russia.) Accessed on the internet at https://ysia.ru/ajsen-nikolaev-v-2020-godu-v-rossii-poyavitsya-zakon-o-mamontovoj-faune/ on 14 March 2025.

Ivanova-Unarova Z.I. & Alekseeva L.R. 2021. Ivory carving in Yakutia: national identity and processes of acculturation. Sibirica 20(2), 76–101, doi: 10.3167/sib.2021.200205.

Kean Z. 2022. Mammoth tusk mining in the Arctic, and the price of “ethical” ivory. ABC Science. Accessed on the internet at https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-02-06/woolly-mammoth-mining-siberia-ethical-ivory/100763684 on 14 March 2025.

Kedr.media. 2023. A polluted river runs through it: how gold mining is destroying eastern Siberia. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Accessed on the internet at https://www.rferl.org/a/krasnoyarsk-siberia-polluted-rivers-gold-mining-russia-catastrophe/32599027.html on 14 March 2025.

Larson E. 2023. Craft or species. National Geographic. Accessed on the internet at https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/craft-or-species/ on 14 March 2025.

Laufer B. 1925. Ivory in China. Anthropology Leaflet 21. Chicago, IL: Field Museum of Natural History.

Lopatin A.V., Sotnikova M.V., Klimovsky A.I., Lavrov, A.V., Protopopov A.V., Gimranov D.O. & Parkhomchuk E.V. 2024. Mummy of a juvenile sabre-toothed cat Homotherium latidens from the Upper Pleistocene of Siberia. Scientific Reports 14, article no. 28016, doi: 10.1038/s41598.024-79546-1.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation 2023. Code of Northern peoples. Collection of legal acts on the rights of indigenous small-numbered peoples of Russia. Accessed on the internet at https://mid.ru/ru/detail-material-page/1901278/?lang=en on 14 March 2025.

Mol D. 2008. Some notes on mammoths and mammoth tusks, the function of the tusks and problems of the mammoth ivory trade. In J. Roth & G. Bortolaso (eds.): Ivory and species conservation. Proceedings of INCENTIVS—meetings (2004–2007). Pp. 101–114. Bonn: Bundesamt für Naturschutz Skripten.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2024. 2023 was the world’s warmest year on record, by far. Accessed on the internet at https://www.noaa.gov/news/2023-was-worlds-warmest-year-on-record-by-far on 14 March 2025.

Pfizenmayer E. 1939. Siberian man and mammoth. London: Blackie and Son Limited.

Pilcher H. 2019. Who are the hunters of rare mammoth tusks in Russia? BBC Science Focus. Accessed on the internet at https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/meet-the-mammoth-hunters-collecting-rare-tusks-in-russia on 14 March 2025.

Price M. 2022. Booming trade in mammoth ivory may be bad news for elephants. Science 378(6621), 696–697, doi: 10.1126/science.adf8361.

Ruoyao W., Haoyuan H. & Jianchuan T. 2018. China’s centuries-old ivory carving nears its end. XinhuaNet. Accessed on the internet at http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/11/c_136888802.htm#:~:text=Listed%20as%20state%2Dlevel%20intangible,carving%20centers%20of%20the%20time on 14 March 2025.

Schuur T. 2016. Thawing permafrost would accelerate global warming. Scientific American. Accessed on the internet at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thawing-permafrost-would-accelerate-global-warming/ on 14 March 2025.

Sergeeva M. 2023. Kak vvesti v pravovoe pole dobyču mamontovoj kosti. (How to introduce mammoth bone mining into the legal field.) RGRU. Accessed on the internet at https://rg.ru/2023/02/02/reg-dfo/kak-vvesti-v-pravovoe-pole-dobychu-mamontovoj-kosti.html on 14 March 2025.

Tolmachoff I.P. 1929. The carcasses of the mammoth and rhinoceros found in the frozen ground of Siberia. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 23(1), i–74b, doi: 10.2307/1005437.

Wang P., Huang Q., Tang Q., Chen X., Yu J., Pozdniakov S.P. & Wang T. 2021. Increasing annual and extreme precipitation in permafrost-dominated Siberia during 1959–2018. Journal of Hydrology 603, article no. 126865, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126865.

Weiss R. 2019. The climate crisis has started a Siberian mammoth tusk gold rush. Wired. Accessed on the internet at https://www.wired.com/story/mammoth-tusk-hunters-russia-china on 14 March 2025.

Wildlife Justice Commission 2021. Assessing wildlife trade on e-commerce sites in China, with a focus on mammoth ivory. Accessed on the internet at https://wildlifejustice.org/assessing-wildlife-trade-on-e-commerce-sites-in-china-with-a-focus-on-mammoth-ivory/ on 14 March 2025.