Aug. 12, 2015 - Nearly a hundred elephants are slaughtered each day in the wild, most for their ivory tusks. This killing of elephants by humans could wipe out the animals in the wild within a generation.
National Geographic initiated an eight-month survey, conducted by GlobeScan, in five countries: China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States. The survey shows that the ivory market is driven by a perceived suitability for gift giving and the social status ivory ownership conveys.
Twenty-two percent of respondents across all five countries expressed strong intent to buy ivory.
"You want to make purchasing ivory and owning ivory socially unacceptable," says National Geographic Society Chief Science and Exploration Officer Terry Garcia.
Likely buyers, on average, tend to fall into the low- to middle-income bracket, skew younger than average, and are somewhat more likely to have a religious affiliation.
