Ivory has served as a material for religious and secular art across cultures - from prehistoric incisions to Greek chryselephantine statues and Japanese netsuke. Today international treaties and national laws tightly restrict commercial ivory trade to protect elephants.
Online livestock auctions let buyers and sellers trade animals remotely, but legal, health, transport, and welfare responsibilities still apply. Verify records, clarify shipping and payment terms, and follow biosecurity and import rules.
African masks embody ancestors, animals, and mythic figures. Made primarily from wood and often used with dance and costume, they function as ritual objects, social instruments, and collectors' items. Contemporary debates focus on provenance, repatriation, and ethical display.
Human expansion has driven habitat loss, poaching and climate impacts that push species toward extinction. Conservation - legal protection, habitat restoration, anti-poaching and community programs - can and has reversed declines for some species.