

J.A. Mills, author of Blood of the Tiger, which details her 20-year career investigating wildlife crime, has noted that one of the major driving factors in the illegal wildlife trade is now China's "uber-elite who are investing in these items as as a new asset" similar to those investing in precious metals or fine art.

The idea behind the buy in is that when a species goes extinct its parts and product will skyrocket in price, economically a successful investment although a tragic downfall for the ecosystem. This also represents a market trend, a shift from consumers buying medicines and products for health reasons to one of wealth for pure economic gain and to show status.



"Tiger-bone wine has medicinal use, but at current prices, they don't buy it as a medicine. They buy it as a way to bribe officials." Grace Gabriel, Asia regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.



Although this means that the larger and rarer items, such as elaborately carved elephant tusks, an unmarked tiger skin or a full gall bladder from a brown bear, can only be purchased by the ultra-rich elite, they are not the only items on the black market. Smaller items and trinkets are increasingly found and purchased by a growing middle class. A growing population equals a growing problem for wildlife where consumers vastly outweigh supply, even buying smaller items the effect of an estimated half a billion middle-class consumers adds up.

'Banking on extinction is the newest, most deadly threat to the survival of wild tigers and other endangered species', an extinction timebomb, which can spell tragedy for the environment.

Below Skin and Bones remembers iconic species already lost: