In an effort to combat poaching, a new initiative could see scientists inject non-toxic radioactive isotopes into rhino horns to make them unfit for human consumption, according to Interesting technique.
On June 25, the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, published the Rhisotope Projecta conservation initiative to prevent poaching and save countless rhinos.
More than 150 years ago, over a million rhinos called the African savannah their home. According to Helping rhinosEuropean settlers began hunting and poaching rhinos. Rhino horn was seen as a luxury, traded illegally for medicine, and coveted as a symbol of wealthBy the early 20th century, the world rhino population had fallen to 500,000 across Africa and Asia. Poaching had reached record heights in 2014 and 2015. Unfortunately, only 27,000 rhinos today, many in national parks, reserves and zoos. Although there has been a slight decline in poaching, illegal activity continues throughout Africa.
“Every 20 hours a rhino dies in South Africa for its horn,” says Professor James Larkin from the University of the Witwatersrand. “These poached horns are then traded around the world and used for traditional medicine or as status symbols. This has resulted in their horns now being the most valuable counterfeit product on the black market, with a higher value than even gold, platinum, diamonds and cocaine.”
With three years of research, the Rhisotope Project has created a way to combat poaching. Expert veterinarians drilled radioisotopes into the horns of 20 rhinos while they were tranquilized and monitored. These radioisotopes, which are not lethal to the rhinos or their environment, contain enough radiation to be detected by monitors at international borders. Over a period of six months, these rhinos will be closely monitored to assess the viability of the initiative.
“Consuming products made from the horns makes them ‘essentially toxic for human consumption,’” it said Nithaya Chettyprofessor and dean of the faculty of science at the University of the Witwatersrand, via Agence France-Presse and shared by France24.
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But the primary goal of the project is to detect rhino horn smuggling before it leaves the country at airports, ports and border crossings. According to the UniversityThere are more than 11,000 radiation detection portal monitors worldwide.
In recent years, efforts to protect rhinos have seen small successes, including the welcoming of a new baby Sumatran rhino, one of only 50 in the world, and a new baby eastern black rhinoceros in a region with only eight known species. The Rhisotope Project allows researchers to easily track rhinos, which play a crucial role in shaping the ecosystem of Africa and help protect them from poachers.
If the trials are successful, there are plans to expand them to other species, including elephants, pangolins and other fauna and flora.
“This new approach, developed by Prof. Larkin and his colleagues, has the potential to eradicate the threat of extinction for our unique wildlife species, particularly in South Africa and across the continent,” said Professor Lynn Morris from the University of the Witwatersrand. “This is one of many projects at (the Witwatersrand) that demonstrate research with impact, and that are helping to address some of the local and global challenges of the 21st century.”
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