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Introduction to
species
identification
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
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Why be concerned about identification?

• CITES is a mechanism for the regulation of
international trade in wild species

– It is a body of agreed rules and procedures that is

guided by science

– CITES is implemented by governments

– CITES is enforced by various government

agencies (police, customs etc.)
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Why be concerned about identification?

• CITES is a specialist Convention largely applied by
non-specialists

• Governments must apply the Convention to all listed

species

– NGOs often focus on one or a few species only

• The bulk of implementing CITES falls on

administrators (Management Authorities) and law
enforcement
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Why be concerned about identification?

• Traders, administrators, scientists, enforcement officers
and buyers must be able to tell species apart
– NGOs have little need for identification skills (except some
market monitoring)

– Scientists may be the only ones who receive any kind of

zoological or botanical training

– Traders and buyers may be knowledgeable out of necessity

and through experience

– This leaves administrators and law enforcement with the least

knowledge about identification and who are ironically the main
implementers...
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Specimen identification
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Issuing and verifying the necessary permits, inspecting goods,

caring for live animals and conserving perishable derivative
products all require qualified, concerned personnel. None of the
signatories of the Convention has allocated sufficient human
and financial resources to ensure perfect control of its borders.
Each CITES administrative body must work together with other
organizations to achieve the objectives of the Convention

Environment Canada, in the Preface to their CITES bird

identification guide
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Introduction (and first lesson)

• What is identification?
– Identification is establishing the identity of the
specimen

What is it?
– The identity of the specimen is one of many pieces
of information that you need to regulate trade in
species in accordance with CITES, but it is also
the FIRST one
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Why identify?
• There are different
reasons why you need
to identify CITES
specimens
– Administrative

– Legal

– Scientific
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Identification as a skill
• The recognition and naming of a CITES-listed plant or
animal is a subtle and sophisticated ability that requires
judgement that a machine cannot provide

• Some computerized identification systems exist for

certain species, but these are not yet useful for CITES

• Databases can hold more information than we can, but

computers cannot duplicate personal experience

• There are tools that can help you identify specimens:

– Online image databases
– On-line and stand-alone computerized keys
– Guides, posters
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Identification as a skill
• Guides and tools can’t make the decisions for you but
they can help, and for identification of CITES species,
you need all the help you can get
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Identification as a skill
• With identification, what appears easy is not,
and what appears hard is usually harder still

• You can know a certain number of species,

but this will never be enough to consistently
and accurately identify species

… but intuition can be very important

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Motivation
• People generally identify things for one of two
reasons:
– Necessary for work

– Personal interest

• The same applies for identification of CITES

specimens
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Exercise
• What make of car is this?

• Are you guessing, or do you know?

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Exercise
• What make of car is this?

• Are you guessing, or do you know?

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Exercise
• What make of car is this?

• Are you guessing, or do you know?

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Exercise
• If you don’t know or recognize the make of
car, how would you go about finding the
answer?

• Would you be ready to defend your

identification in a court of law?
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Exercise
• For some identification tasks, you already
know the answer (personal experience)

• For some identification tasks, a colleague

knows the answer (local knowledge)

• For some identification tasks, you have to go

through a process to narrow your search and
determine what it is

• A guess can be a good place to start, but it

can also be the wrong place to finish
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Approaches to identification
• To consistently and accurately identify
species, you need a methodology, an
approach

• Consider identification as problem solving or

solving a puzzle
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Taxonomy
• To be able to consistently identify CITES
specimens, you need to be familiar with
taxonomy
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Taxonomy
The plant or animal kingdom can be subdivided
into sections of ever decreasing status
Phylum

Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species (spp.)
Subspecies (ssp.)
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A 7-step approach to species

identification
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Methodology
• Step 1 - Prepare
– Reference materials

– Equipment

– Species knowledge

– Safety
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Methodology
• Step 2 - Determine what you already know,
and look for clues
– Personal knowledge of the species or similar
species
– Type of specimen
– Label, documentation
– Sex, age, condition
– Obvious characteristics
– Origin
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Be aware
• Identifying a specimen in the
hand is harder than identifying
a live specimen in the wild
– In the wild you have location, habitat, behaviour,
and usually healthy specimens to help

– In captivity, you have none of these factors to

help, plus you must cope with hybrids, man-made
varieties etc.

– Identification materials may not cover both sexes,

age variations, and natural colour variations
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Methodology
• What if you do not have the usual clues?
– No documentation or
falsified documents
– Origin uncertain
– No personal or local
knowledge
– No obvious characteristic features

• Smuggled items are the hardest to identify, because

they have the least information except for the
specimens themselves
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Methodology
• Step 3 - Try to narrow the search as
much as possible
– Google search for “parrot” = 23,300,000 hits

– Google search for “cockatoo” = 1,850,000 hits

– Google search for “Sulphur-crested cockatoo” = 114,000 hits

– Google search for “Lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo” =

43,000 hits

– Google search for “Citron-crested cockatoo” = 983 hits

– Google search for “Cacatua sulphurea citrinocrista” = 38

hits
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Methodology
• Species identification is detective work!
– Be prepared and equipped

– Be conscious of what you know

– Be aware of what you need to know

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Methodology
• Step 4 - Decide on what reference tools to use
– Identification manuals and guides

– You may need other equipment and resources

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Methodology
• Take your time – a wrong identification will
waste much time and effort

• Accuracy is more important than immediacy

Would you want a court case

dependant on a guess?
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Methodology
• Step 5 – Identify the specimen
– Take notes

– Go through the manuals

– Get your result

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Methodology
• You may be able to determine the species, or
reduce the possibility to one of several species,
or to a group

• Try to find out something about the species

– Is it widely traded?

– Is it known to be traded from the country of origin?

– Is it rare or common?

– Can you find images or other information that corroborates

your finding?
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Methodology
• Step 6 – Self-questioning
– Step back and think about whether your
identification makes sense

(apply the common sense principle)

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Methodology
• Step 7 – Practice…!
– Identification is a skill that improves with practice
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Summary
• Step 1 – Prepare (tools, equipment, location, resources)
• Step 2 – Determine what you already know, and look
for clues
• Step 3 – Try to narrow the search as much as
possible
• Step 4 – Decide on what reference tools to use
• Step 5 – Identify the specimen
• Step 6 – Self-questioning
• Step 7 – Practice
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Summary
• It is important to:
– Recognize the importance of specimen
identification
– Understand different approaches to identification
– Learn about identification tools
– Practice identification skills
– Recognize the challenge of specimen
identification
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Resources
• The Secretariat's species identification training
modules aim to help CITES administrators and law
enforcement officers cope with species identification
– Focus on main types of trade

– Focus on main species in trade

– Focus on key identification tips for

species and items in trade

– Raise awareness of tools and resources

– Mix theory and practice for effective

training
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CITES Secretariat
Geneva