How radioactive rhinos may prevent poaching

Every 20 hours in South Africa a rhino is killed for its horn and experts are turning to nuclear technology to try and stop this bloodshed.

Rhino horns are poached for use around the world in traditional medicines or as status symbols, so South African scientists are implanting radioactive material in the animals' horns to make them poisonous and prevent smuggling.

Nuclear Beckham

Last month, scientists from Wits University, Johannesburg, injected radioisotopes, atoms that have excess nuclear energy, into the horns of 20 rhinos on a reserve in South Africa.

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Among the first rhinos to have the injection were Beckham, Mapimpi and Duane, who are named after the English football star and two Springbok rugby players.

It's hoped that the radioactive material will make their horns harder to smuggle internationally, as they would set off radiation detectors installed at land border crossings, ports and airports to prevent nuclear terrorism.

The injected material should also "render the horn useless… essentially poisonous for human consumption", Nithaya Chetty, professor and dean of science at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told Agence France-Presse.

Experts insisted the radioisotopes do not harm the rhinos, who were sedated and unaware while the material was injected into their horns, making it an "elegant solution to a very real problem", said Futurism.

Golden prices

Poaching is a "significant problem" in South Africa, which is home to the world's biggest rhino population, said The Times. Almost 500 rhinos were killed last year, according to government data.

The death toll reflects the demand for the use of rhino horns in traditional medicine. On the black market they are worth more by weight than gold or cocaine, with the highest demand in China and Vietnam.

Past efforts to tackle this problem included poisoning or painting the horns. Conservationists have even resorted to dehorning rhinos themselves to try and keep them safe from poachers.

Like a "well-oiled machine", said Discover, field rangers, vets, researchers and a helicopter pilot would team up to find and tranquilise a rhino. Then they would cover its eyes and ears and cut off the horn with a chainsaw a few inches from the base.

Naturally, that process proved controversial. "We get a lot of criticism for cutting with a chainsaw," said rhino conservation specialist Vanessa Duthé, "but it's the best way, the fastest way" to dehorn.

Meanwhile, the numbers show the scale of the problem. Rhino killings were up 11% in 2023 and there are just over 26,000 rhinos left in the world.

If the radioisotopes experiment is successful, over time the scientists hope to expand their work for the benefit of other endangered animals, such as elephants and pangolins.