In South Africa, after six years of development, an innovative and dramatic strategy is being implemented to protect rhinos from poaching. This strategy is carried out in the country’s natural reserves and parks.
Called Project Rhisotope, it involves embedding non-harmful radioactive isotopes in the horns of rhinos, making them impossible to traffic across borders, thanks to existing infrastructure in ports and airports designed to prevent nuclear terrorism and proliferation.
Even if the isotope is found and removed, the residue on the horn—and anything it touches—can be detected. Conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand-Johannesburg, field tests have confirmed that isotope radioactivity can be identified even if a single horn is hidden inside a standard 40-foot steel container.
The Rhisotope Project was launched, according to a statement from Wits University, to combat the high levels of illegal poaching of rhinos in South Africa. Home to the largest population of rhino species in the world, South Africa has been battling poachers as they threaten to exterminate already small white rhino populations (We are Ceratotherium) and black rhinoceros (They are called two-horned), classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as “Near Threatened” and “Critically Endangered” respectively.
“Our goal is to deploy Rhisotope technology on a large scale to help protect one of Africa’s most iconic and endangered species. By doing so, we protect not only rhinos but a vital part of our natural heritage,” said Jessica Babich, CEO of Project Rhisotope, in a statement.
Approximately 11,000 machines capable of detecting radiation are installed at entry points in more than 200 countries around the world, and are designed to allow personnel to perform such detections with minimal effort and training. On the contrary, few places have infrastructure or training programs specialized in detecting trafficked animal parts.
There was skepticism at first about whether the radioactive material would harm rhinos, but other conservationists working to protect the large mammals have called this “a magical idea.”
A decade in development
“There was an attempt to use nuclear technology in 2015/16 when a completely different group was trying to work with NECSA (Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa) and some major funding to see if using nuclear technology to protect rhinos was feasible. But it wasn’t, they abandoned it very, very quickly because the type of technology they were using was not going to work in the field,” Babich told WaL.
The idea was later presented to Professor James Larkin, Scientific Director of the Rhisotope Project and a specialist in radiology at the University of the Witwatersrand. It was he who proposed using isotopes.
“The idea arose from the question of whether radioactivity could be used to ‘poison’ a horn,” Professor Larkin explained to WaL by email. “From my point of view, that’s a resounding ‘no.’ I came up with the idea of using radioactive seeds to devalue the horn and make it much easier to track across international borders. So basically the idea, good or bad, is mine.
NECSA and Wits worked together with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to advance Larkin’s idea, and in 2024, they launched a trial phase at a rhino farm in the UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere Reserve in the northern province of Limpopo. The animals were monitored 24/7 for 6 months for any signs that the radioisotopes might be affecting them.
Then, using a technique known as biological dosimetry, the researchers cultured blood samples and examined the formation of micronuclei in white blood cells, a proven indicator of cellular damage. No such damage was found in the 20 rhinos, representing a major step in the feasibility of nuclear-powered wildlife trafficking prevention.
“We 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,” Professor Larkin said last summer.
Private rhinos, public good
To the observer, one feature of South Africa’s wildlands and wildlife that might appear to be an impediment to the project is the fact that thousands of rhinos live on privately owned land.
“Private rhino owners in South Africa are incredibly important. Believe it or not, most [sic] of rhinos are privately owned—more than in national parks like Kruger,” Babich said. “All populations are incredibly important, but as a non-profit company, we are actively seeking partners and collaborators for financial support so we can treat as many rhinos as possible as quickly as possible, and we are in conversations with several people and places who would like to see the technology implemented.”
1 kilogram of rhino horn on the black market has been widely reported to cost around $65,000, which would make the two-horned rhino worth $130,000 dead. As has been exhaustively repeated, the material of a rhino’s horn is the same as that of human nails and hair: keratin, a simple, crude protein that confers no medicinal properties despite the horn’s use as a medicinal tea.
Various strategies have been employed to combat rhino poaching, from funneling millions into the arsenals and training camps of anti-poaching security teams, to one man’s pursuit of breeding rhinos in captivity and exploiting them for their horns with the intention of flooding the market, crashing the price and discouraging poachers.
Babich explained that if using radioisotopes deters poachers, it would save private landowners whose land includes rhinos a lot of money, money they would otherwise pay to hire, train and equip anti-poaching security teams, and to dehorn rhinos, another common anti-poaching strategy. That, however, has to be done every 18 to 24 months.
“With isotopes, the rhino keeps its horn, and we only have to come back after a 5-year period just to refill the dose, so it will ultimately be more cost-effective in the long run.”
One of the University of the Witwatersrand nuclear scientists involved on the periphery of the project was Professor Nithaya Chetty, dean of the science faculty at Wits. He had previously told Africa News that studies on dehorned rhinos showed that although it is somewhat effective in deterring poachers, it negatively affects the social habits and hierarchy of the rhinos.
Having seen the project go from a face-to-face proposal, to a rough idea, to development, testing, success and deployment, Professor Larkin was contemplative when asked about it.
“Feelings? A certain degree of pride in having done the research and shown that the idea is viable,” he told WaL. “Hope that the idea will be adopted on a large scale and maybe hope that we have really made a difference to the rhino population and that they will be here for a few more generations.” WaL
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