Dealing wildlife offences in India: Role of the hair as physical evidence

Abstract

India is known for its rich biodiversity, with a wide variety of wild floral and faunal species. This wildlife treasure of ours faces the threat of extinction due to rampant poaching and illegal trade. With most of the wildlife offence cases related to mammals having hair as physical evidence, it becomes imperative to use this evidence in the best possible way for wildlife crime investigation. We discuss the value of hair evidence with special reference to species characterization/identification using microscopic hair characteristics, keratin patterns, and mitochondrial DNA typing. The relevance of the techniques with respect to Indian scenario is specially taken care of and microscopic hair characteristics of one of the highly endangered species along with its keratin pattern are described. Finally, the use of mitochondrial DNA for species identification is also discussed.

Follow‐up on the characterization of peptidic markers in hair and fur for the identification of common North American species

“…Using a range of microscopic techniques, the features of hair (fiber's diameter, shape and size of the scales of the cuticle, presence of medulla and its pattern) are recorded, although some authors have debated the diagnostic value of the cuticular pattern . Microscopy has been used in forensics, illegal trade, textile research, and conservation and archaeology for species identification. The task is however painstaking and requires intense expertise and experience, as well as a large bank of references to train the eye to inter‐ and intra‐species variations .…”

Characterization of the human head louse nit sheath reveals proteins with adhesive property that show no resemblance to known proteins

“…Head louse eggs were treated overnight with 12 M urea, 74 mM Tris base, and 78 mM dithiothreitol (DTT), which have been used to dissolve and study animal keratin 20 . When the urea-treated eggs were observed under the microscope, they were devoid of the developing embryos (Fig.…”

Hindering the illegal trade in dog and cat furs through a DNA-based protocol for species identification

“…old bones, blood stains; Alacs et al, 2010 ; Linacre & Tobe, 2011 ; Iyengar, 2014 ), noninvasive samples (e.g. hairs, faeces; Waits & Paetkau, 2005 ) and animal furs and pelts ( Sahajpal et al, 2009 ; Jun et al, 2011 ; Pilli et al, 2014 ; this study). Typically, species are identified using universal mitochondrial primers ( Kocher et al, 1989 ; Irwin, Kocher & Wilson, 1991 ), which can also amplify non-target contaminant species.…”