Forensic identification of elephant and giraffe hair artifacts using HATR FTIR spectroscopy and discriminant analysis

We investigated the utility of horizontal-attenuated total-reflection Fourier transform infrared (HATR FTIR) spectroscopy for the analysis and identification of tail hair of reputed elephant and/or giraffe origin, commonly used to manufacture indigenous artifacts (e.g. bracelets, earrings, finger rings, etc.) in the wildlife trade. We describe a prominent peak at 1032 cm–1, seen extensively in proboscidean […]