Rhinoceros

FILE -- In this file photo taken Feb. 15, 2016, a de-horned rhino and her calf rest in their corral at a rhino orphanage in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province South Africa. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell-File)

Cutting off rhinos’ horns is a contentious last resort to stop poaching. A new study found it works

A study published in the academic journal Science has found that cutting off the horns of rhinos in Africa leads to a reduction in poaching of the endangered species.
 
A rhino, front, recovers from a tranquilizer, after a hole was drilled into its horn and isotopes carefully inserted, at a rhino orphanage in the country's northern province of Limpopo, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell, File)

Poachers have killed over 100 rhinos in South Africa this year. Most were in national parks

 
Nova, left, an endangered Southern White Rhinoceros born in January 2025, stands next to her mother Elie at Paira Daiza Zoo in Brugelette, Belgium, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

Baby white rhino Nova makes her public debut at Belgium’s Pairi Daiza zoo

 
This undated photo provided by Zoo Knoxville shows Dolly the rhinoceros at the Zoo Knoxville. (Amy Smotherman Burgess/Zoo Knoxville via AP)

Dolly, the oldest rhino in the US, has died at a Tennessee zoo at age 56

 
FILE - A black rhino, on the Red List of Threatened Species according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), eats grass at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

The number of rhinos is slightly up but poaching has increased too

 

Latest Videos

How cutting off rhino horns helps curb poaching

Dehorning rhinos leads to a massive drop in poaching, according to a new study. The keratin growths are often sold in highly lucrative illegal markets in parts of southeast Asia and China for traditional medicines.
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Rhinos play, wallow in mud at Tennessee zoo

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Dolly, oldest rhino in the United States, dies at Knoxville zoo at age 56

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Belgian zoo welcomes birth of white rhino

 

Kenya plans IVF to save rare white rhinos nearing extinction

 

Baby white rhino takes first steps outside at UK zoo

 

Caretaker of northern white rhino hopeful that nearly extinct sub-species can be saved

 

Banksy unveils new rhino art in an animal-themed collection that has popped up across London

 
Silverio, a twelve-day-old white rhino, runs next to his mother Hannah during his presentation at the Buin Zoo in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. The baby rhino’s birth is the third of this endangered species born at the Buin. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Newborn white rhino Silverio takes his first giant steps in a Chilean zoo in a boost to his species

 

Zoo in Chile presents 12-day-old baby rhino to the public

 

South African researchers test use of nuclear technology to curb rhino poaching

 
A sedated rhino is prepared to be tranquilized, before a hole is drilled into its horn and isotopes carefully inserted, at a rhino orphanage in the country's northern province of Limpopo, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Researchers have started the final phase of a research project aimed at reducing rhino poaching by inserting radioisotopes into rhino horns to devalue one of the most highly trafficked wildlife commodities. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

South African researchers test use of nuclear technology to curb rhino poaching

 

Indonesian police arrest 6 suspected poachers over the killing of 26 endangered Javan rhinos

 
FILE- A black rhino, on the Red List of Threatened Species according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), eats grass at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, on Jan. 31, 2024. Conservationists in Kenya are celebrating as rhinos returned to a grassy plateau that hasn't seen them in decades. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

Rhinos are returned to a plateau in central Kenya, decades after poachers wiped them out

 
In this photograph released by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Dr. Thomas Hildbrandt, head of projects, holds a white rhinoceros embryo that was created in a lab from an egg and sperm that had been previously collected from other rhinos and later transferred into a southern white rhino surrogate mother, in Kenya Nov. 29, 2023. A rhinoceros is pregnant through embryo transfer in the first successful use of a method that conservationists said could be used to try to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino subspecies. (Jon Juarez/IZW via AP)

A rhino got pregnant from embryo transfer, in a success that may help nearly extinct subspecies

 

Kenya embarks on relocating black rhinos to new home

 
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team pull out a sedated black rhino from the water in Nairobi National Park, Kenya Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. Kenya has embarked on its biggest rhino relocation project ever and began the difficult work Tuesday of tracking, darting and moving 21 of the critically endangered beasts, which can each weigh over a ton, hundreds of miles in trucks to a new home. A previous attempt at moving rhinos in the East African nation in 2018 was a disaster as all 11 of the animals died. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenya embarks on its biggest rhino relocation project. A previous attempt was a disaster

 
In this undated photo released by Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry, a newly born Sumatran rhino calf walks in its enclosure at Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary at Way Kambas National Park, Indonesia. The critically endangered Sumatran rhino was born on Sumatra Island Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, the second Sumatran rhino born in the country this year and a welcome addition to a species that currently numbers fewer than 50 animals. (Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry via AP)

A Sumatran rhino calf born in Indonesia adds to an endangered species of fewer than 50 animals

 
An ambulance with rescue helpers of the Red Cross stands at the entrance of the Hellbrunn Zoo in Salzburg, Austria, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. Police say a rhino at a zoo in Austria has attacked and killed a zookeeper and seriously injured another. The fatal attack happened early Tuesday morning at the Hellbrunn zoo in the western Austrian city of Salzburg. Police said in a statement that during routine work in the rhino enclosure, a 33-year-old animal keeper was attacked by the animal 'for reasons that are still unknown'. (AP Photo)

A rhino at an Austrian zoo kills a zookeeper and seriously injures her husband

 

Animals enjoy Easter treats in UK zoo

 

Baby white rhino enjoys spring sunshine in the U.K.

 

Kenya’s IVF White Rhino could save near extinct species

 

Baby rhino born at Whipsnade Zoo

 

Oregon Zoo welcomes a new rhinoceros calf