Orchids: blooming on the black market

07/22/21 • 38 min

Billions of orchids are bought and sold around the world every year. Most of this trade is legal and made up of artificially grown flowers. However, alongside the regulated trade, thousands of orchids are illegally harvested from the wild - and it's causing big problems for some of the most coveted species.

In this episode of Wild Crimes, we'll find out why no other plant has captured our imagination quite like orchids, and learn about how we can better protect them.

Discover more with the Museum's Dr Sandy Knapp, Dr Jacob Phelps of Lancaster University, Dr David Roberts of the University of Kent, Dr Amy Hinsley at the University of Oxford, botanist Dr Tatiana Arias and collector Juan Felipe Posada.

Learn more about the illegal wildlife trade and support the Natural History Museum's work at nhm.ac.uk/wildcrimes.

In this episode of Wild Crimes, we'll find out why no other plant has captured our imagination quite like orchids, and learn about how we can better protect them.

Learn more about the illegal wildlife trade and support the Natural History Museum's work at nhm.ac.uk/wildcrimes.

Previous Episode

A mammoth task: halting the ivory trade

Elephants are the poster child for the illegal wildlife trade. It is estimated that on average, 55 African elephants per day are killed for their ivory tusks.

Humans have coveted ivory for thousands of years, and demand eventually pushed elephants to the brink. International trade in their tusks is now banned, but a new product on the global market could be fuelling the flames for elephants: mammoth tusks.

In this episode of Wild Crimes, we'll find out how the trade in the tusks of extinct mammoths is influencing demand for elephant ivory. Are mammoths providing their living relatives with a lifeline, or are their tusks doing more harm than good?

Discover more with Museum Research Leader Prof Adrian Lister, Valery Plotnikov from the Academy of Sciences of Yakutia, trade investigator Lucy Vigne and ivory trade research specialist Linda Chou.

Learn more about mammoths, elephants and the illegal wildlife crime and support the Natural History Museum’s work at nhm.ac.uk/wildcrimes.

Next Episode

Dinosaurs: stealing the most expensive fossils in the world

In 2020, the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold was acquired by a private investor for £24.7m. Anybody with money can now get their hands on a T.rex or Stegosaurus - and when big fossils come with million dollar price tags, breaking the law can be lucrative busineess.

In this episode of Wild Crimes, find out why the commercial trade in dinosaur fossils is such a big issue for science.

Join Museum palaeontologists Dr Susie Maidment and Professor Paul Barrett, Professor John Long of Flinders University in South Australia and Dr Bolortsetseg Minjin at the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs.

Learn more about dinosaurs and support the Natural History Museum's work at nhm.ac.uk/wildcrimes.