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Legal wildlife trade creates opportunities for the sale of illegally procured animals and their derivatives, since it is difficult to differentiate legal from laundered items. This problem is common across many wildlife trade areasexotic pets, ornaments, seafoodand involves a variety of taxa. Here, we tested the ability of bulk and compound-specific stable isotope analysis to help monitor and regulate trade of the yellow-crested cockatoo Cacatua sulphurea, a critically endangered species threatened by overexploitation for the pet trade. Global trade in wild-caught yellowcrested cockatoos was banned in 2002; sale of captive-bred individuals, however, is still permitted. Our surveys in Hong Kong markets revealed more yellow-crested cockatoos for sale in 2017-2018 than the total number recorded as legally imported over the previous 13 years, emphasizing the need for a forensic tool to identify the source of the individuals for sale in the markets. Stable isotope analysis was successful at distinguishing between captive and wild cockatoos; we found significant differences between wild and captive cockatoos in both stable carbon (P < 0.001) and stable nitrogen (P < 0.001) isotope values. Linear discriminant analysis allocated samples to the correct group with high reliability (Accuracy = 0.91, Kappa = 0.81), although reliability was lower for some individuals with values on the edge of the distribution. In cases where the bulk isotope analysis was ambiguous, compound-specific stable isotope analysis, which provides carbon isotope values in specific amino acids, can be applied. We found six amino acids that differed significantly between captive and wild samples, with valine (P = 0.009) being the most informative. Together, stable and compound-specific isotope analysis represents an important potential forensic tool to help combat illegal trade of cockatoos and could be expanded to other species threatened by wildlife trade.

As the global epicentre of wildlife trade, Hong Kong plays an important role in the preservation or demise of biodiversity, including species found continents away. If mismanaged, legal trade in threatened species can lead to unsustainable exploitation. Inaccurate and incomplete trade records from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) undermine the regulation of this trade. We examine the trade of hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) teeth to illustrate the extent of mismatched data between key trading nations. More than 90% of global hippo teeth trade is imported to, and re-exported from, Hong Kong.Of that imported, over 75% originated in Tanzania or Uganda, but there are notable disparities in declared trade volumes. In most transactions, Hong Kong declares more volume imported than the volume declared exported by Uganda. Overall, Hong Kong has reported the import of 3,176 kg more hippo teeth than declared exported by Tanzania. This indicates that actual trade levels may exceed internationally agreed quotas. In total, over 14,000 kg of hippo teeth is unaccounted for between Uganda and Hong Kong, representing more than 2,700 individual hippos-2% of the global population. This gross discordance in trade data undermines regulatory measures and challenges the persistence of hippo populations in Africa. R esum eEpicentre mondial du commerce de faune sauvage, Hong-Kong joue un rôle important dans la pr eservation ou la disparition de la biodiversit e, y compris celles d'esp eces vivant dans d'autres continents. S'il est mal g er e, le commerce l egal d'esp eces menac ees peut entraîner une exploitation non durable. Des rapports inexacts ou incomplets sur ce commerce provenant de la Convention sur le commerce international des esp eces de faune et de flore sauvages menac ees d'extinction (CITES) discr editent la r egulation de ce commerce. Nous examinons le commerce de dents d'hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) pour illustrer l'ampleur des divergences des donn ees entre les pays cl es de ce commerce. Plus de 90% du commerce de dents d'hippos sont import ees a Hong-Kong et r eexport ees de l a. De ces importations, plus de 75% proviennent de Tanzanie ou d'Ouganda, mais il y a des diff erences notoires dans les volumes d eclar es. Dans la plupart des transactions, Hong-Kong d eclare l'importation d'un volume sup erieur a celui que l'Ouganda d eclare exporter. En tout, Hong-Kong rapporte aussi l'importation de 3,176 kilos de dents d'hippos de plus que ce que la Tanzanie d eclare exporter. Ceci montre que le v eritable niveau du commerce pourrait

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