Trade

• According to the New York Times, the trade in mammoth ivory grew significantly after the international ban on the elephant ivory trade in the late 1980s.
  
  

Global Warming

• Global warming has exposed more mammoth ivory by melting the tundra. Other parts of Asia and Europe also have buried mammoth ivory, as well as countries like Canada and the US. In Alaska, the Yukon supplies much of the trade, according to Yukon News.
  
  

Conservationists

• According to conservationists, the legal mammoth ivory trade helps meet the demand for ivory that poachers would otherwise obtain by killing elephants.
  
  

Russian Exports

• Russian exports of mammoth ivory grew from two tons in 1989 to 40 tons in 2007. The price varies according to its grade. For example, grade A, which has fewer cracks and splits, can sell from $75 to $95 a pound in the U.S.
  
  

Oil and Gas Exploration

• Crews working for the oil and gas industry often find tusks after ice thaws or after heavy rains. Although they may emerge intact from the ice, they eventually disintegrate if left exposed.