Cycad poachers are in for a nasty surprise. Researchers at the University of Cape Town have come up with a way to trace where the endangered plants have been stolen from.
Alarms, microchips and individualised microdots have failed to stop poachers.
Now Adam West, a senior lecturer in the UCT biological sciences department, believes it has found a way to help the Hawks secure convictions.
It involves building a database of the "chemical signatures'' of wild cycads in South Africa, against which suspected stolen plants can be tested.
Similar methods have been used successfully to trace the origins of cocaine, explosives and banknotes.
"This could become a very powerful forensic tool," West said.
He said his team had been building the "reference library" since 2012.
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