South Africa: radioactivity in an attempt to save rhinos
Audio 01:23
Scientists want to make rhino horns radioactive to reduce ivory trafficking and save the species.
© STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP PHOTO
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
In South Africa, a team of researchers is trying to make the rhino's horn radioactive using nuclear technology.
This project aims to make ivory trafficking much more difficult.
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The project was initiated by the University of the Witwatersrand in partnership with an American university, an Australian organization and the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Rosatom. The idea is to dig a tiny hole in the rhino's horn to slip in a radioactive fragment as small as a grain of sand. The process is painless for rhinos because there is no sensory nerve in this part of their anatomy.
Ryan Collier, Rosatom's CEO for Central and Southern Africa, explains how this technique should make
ivory smuggling
more difficult: “
Our goal is to reduce demand by making horn less attractive because people will know what to do with it. 'it is potentially radioactive.
And also make transport much more complicated, with about
10
000 radiation detectors at airports and ports across the world, this will increase the chances of stopping the traffickers
'
Check that the method is safe
But you must first make sure that this method is safe for the health of the animal. Two rhinos are playing guinea pigs right now. Professor James Larkin behind the idea deals with this first phase of the experiment: “
We have to be sure that what we put in the horn will not migrate and expose the internal organs to radioactivity, for this we will take blood and faecal samples in the coming weeks to check that there is no movement of the product from the horn to the rhino's body
”
If the results are conclusive, Professor Larkin will make an announcement on World Rhino Day in September.
He dreams of opening up this technology to conservation organizations across the continent and why not extend it to elephant tusks?
►Also read: To save the rhinos, the World Bank wants to solicit investors
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