After six years of testing, the project has now reached a point where it\u2019s ready for widespread use.<\/p>\n Safe for rhinos, tough on traffickers<\/p>\n Six months ago, the project embedded trace amounts of radioactive material into the horns of 20 rhinos living in the UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere. <\/p>\n Since then, scientists have been closely monitoring the animals. Blood tests and veterinary checkups show no harm has been done.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have demonstrated, beyond scientific doubt, that the process is completely safe for the animal and effective in making the horn detectable through international customs nuclear security systems,\u201d said Professor James Larkin, chief scientific officer of the Rhisotope Project.<\/p>\n To verify safety, researchers used a method called biological dosimetry. They cultured blood samples from the rhinos and looked for signs of cell damage in white blood cells. None were found. This confirms that the isotope levels used are well within safe limits.<\/p>\n Nuclear tech, often tied to energy or medicine, is now helping fight wildlife crime<\/a> in a surprising new role. It\u2019s a shift from the lab to the landscape, where science meets real-world urgency.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one example of how Wits University\u2019s researchers work and think innovatively, stepping out of the clinical environments of their laboratories to bring bold, creative solutions to some of the world\u2019s toughest challenges,\u201d said Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, vice-chancellor and principal of Wits University.<\/p>\n South Africa is home to most of the world\u2019s rhinos. For more than a decade, it\u2019s been losing them to poachers<\/a> who sell the horns on the black market. <\/p>\n The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) now lists white rhinos as \u201cNear Threatened\u201d and black rhinos as \u201cCritically Endangered.\u201d<\/p>\n The project hopes to reduce this threat by making smuggled horns easier to detect. It aims to work not just visually, but with standard radiation detectors already used at airports and ports worldwide.<\/p>\n Rhino horn tracking in real life<\/p>\n To make sure the technology works in real-world conditions, the team tested how detectable the treated horns would be during transport.<\/p>\n \u201cWe simulated transport scenarios with the 3D-printed horns in carry-on luggage, air cargo shipments, and priority parcel delivery systems,\u201d said Larkin. \u201cIn each case, even a single horn with significantly lower levels of radioactivity than what will be used in practice successfully triggered alarms in radiation detectors,\u201d <\/p>\n The horns even showed up inside full-size shipping containers. That means border security officers around the world could start catching illicit shipments much more reliably.<\/p>\n Global effort to protect rhinos<\/p>\n The Rhisotope Project is a registered non-profit and will be fully operational starting August 2025. The team encourages conservation groups, rhino owners, and government agencies to reach out and participate.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal is to deploy the Rhisotope technology at scale to help protect one of Africa\u2019s most iconic and threatened species,\u201d said Jessica Babich, CEO of the Rhisotope Project. \u201cBy doing so, we safeguard not just rhinos but a vital part of our natural heritage.\u201d <\/p>\n The project is already getting international attention \u2013 not just from wildlife groups, but from the nuclear -science community.<\/p>\n \u201cThis project exemplifies how nuclear science can be applied in novel ways to address global challenges,\u201d said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. \u201cBy leveraging existing nuclear security infrastructure, we can help protect one of the world\u2019s most iconic and endangered species<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n For once, rhinos may have the upper hand. And with science on their side, their horns may become less of a prize \u2013 and more of a trap \u2013 for traffickers.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Check us out on EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls<\/a> and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After years of outsmarting conservation efforts, rhino horn traffickers may finally meet their match \u2013 and it\u2019s coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-47142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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