A realistic knock-off may wreck the rhino-horn market
are big business. Traditional Chinese medicine uses them to treat rheumatism and gout, even though they have no actual pharmaceutical properties beyond placebo. And Yemeni craftsmen carve them into dagger handles. A kilogram can thus command as much as $60,000, so there is tremendous incentive for poachers to hunt the animals. Since almost all rhinoceros populations are endangered, several critically, this is a serious problem.
Examination under a microscope showed that hairs collected from horses’ tails had similar dimensions and symmetry to those found in the horns of rhinos. They also shared a spongy core structure. Horse hairs had a scaly layer that was absent from those of the rhino, but the researchers were able to strip this away with a solution of lithium bromide.
The result was a material that, with some polishing, looked like rhino horn. Specimens on the black market are, however, inspected carefully before sale, so for the false horns to be effective they would need to stand up to closer scrutiny than the naked eye. To this end, Dr Vollrath and Dr Mi decided to test their product in detail.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
At IFA, Startups Forge Human-Centric Interfaces Between People and TechnologyBrain activity scanners, retinal projectors and even interactive displays made of wood were among new technologies turning heads at Germany’s recent IFA electronics trade show as visitors flocked to see innovations from Japanese startups.
Read more »