Scientists Inject Radioactive Chips Into Rhino Horns

Poaching is the illegal trafficking and killing of animals and plants – and efforts to stop poachers are numerous but mostly unsuccessful. In South Africa, nearly 500 rhinoceros were killed in 2023 alone, and the rangers who work to protect them have found themselves in danger as well. Poachers use the rhino horns to make different medicines. The latest idea to thwart the killing of the rhinos is to insert radioactive chips into live rhino horns. Scientists are putting that idea in motion using 20 wild rhinos to test their theory.

The Plan

For years, scientists have attempted to find ways to deter poachers from killing the large animals. However, their horns are nearly as valuable as gold on the black market, and demand from Asia to use them in traditional medicine increases their value.

“This has led to their horns currently being the most valuable false commodity in the black-market trade, with a higher value even than gold, platinum, diamonds and cocaine,” said Professor James Larkin, the director of the University of the Witwatersrand’s Radiation and Health Physics Unit. “Sadly, rhino horns play a large role in funding a wide variety of criminal activities globally.”

Previous efforts to dehorn the rhinos have been minimally effective and cost lots of money. Also, the process must be repeated for each animal every 18 months. To say the least, warding off the hunters has proven to be quite challenging when the animals’ value is so high.

A more recent idea, known as the Rhisotope Project, is to render the horns themselves useless. South African scientists began injecting radioactive material into the horns of live rhinos under the leadership of Professor Larkin. This area of the country is a hotspot for rhino poaching, and approximately 15,000 of the species live there. Once the chips are in place, no harm will come to the animal or its surroundings.

How Do Radioactive Chips Deter Rhino Poachers?

While the chips are not visible to the hunters, the radiation within the horns is enough to trigger detectors used at international borders. Someone attempting to bring the horns over the border would be detected and punished accordingly. Additionally, the radioactive chips render the horns useless for human consumption. There is not enough radiation to hurt the rhino, though it is enough to harm any human that consumes it.

Combining the risk of crossing the border with the illegal contraband and the fact that the “poisoned” horns will earn no money, it essentially makes poaching the animal in the first place useless.

Over the next six months, the scientists will closely monitor the test rhinos. They will pay attention to any reactions from the radioactivity and keep an eye on their vitals and overall health. If the process works, the radiation will be injected into more rhinos as well as other animals that are a target of poachers, such as elephants and pangolins. The radioactive material will remain in the horns for five years, making it a much more viable and affordable option.

Advocates and anti-poachers hope the effort will be enough to stop the unnecessary death and near extinction of these amazing animals.