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South African scientists on Tuesday injected radioactive material into live rhinoceros horns to make them easier to detect at border posts in a pioneering project aimed at curbing poaching.
The country is home to a large majority of the world’s rhinoceroses and, is a hotspot for poaching driven by demand from Asia, where horns are used in traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic effect.
Rhisotope Project
The Rhisotope Project was founded in 2021 by Prof. James Larkin, the radiation and health physics unit director at Wits University and co-founder Suzanne Boswell
By inserting measured quantities of radioisotopes into the horns of live rhinos, this project aims to use nuclear science in a novel way for conservation.
This non-lethal yet powerful solution, aims to radically reduce the demand from end-users and save rhinos from the very real threat of extinction
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