Once upon a time, the thunder of footsteps from lakhs of mighty rhinoceroses echoed across the savannahs, grasslands, and tropical forests of Africa and Asia — but things have gotten pretty quiet lately. As of 2024, fewer than 28,000 rhinos remain on the planet, all five species combined.
Relentless poaching has been a major threat to the survival of rhinos around the world. Greater Kruger, the southern African reserves protecting the world’s largest rhino population, alone lost 1,985 black and white rhinos between 2017 and 2023. That’s nearly 6.5% of the rhino population disappearing each year, despite an investment of $74 million in anti-poaching strategies, including ranger patrols, trained tracking dogs, AI-powered detection cameras, and aerial surveillance.
One approach that has shown promise is dehorning rhinos. An international team of researchers collected data over seven years from 11 reserves in the South African portion of the Greater Kruger region and found that dehorning significantly reduced poaching incidents by removing the primary incentive for poachers.
Nelson Mandela University senior lecturer and study member Tim Kuiper explained that the idea for their project arose from an urgent need on the ground. Managers and rangers in nature reserves, particularly those surrounding Kruger National Park, recognised that despite their ongoing efforts, they were losing rhinos at an alarming rate.
“The managers, rangers and scientists came together and asked a bold question: why are we still losing so many rhinos? What can we do differently?,” he said.
The team found that dehorning 2,284 rhinos across eight reserves resulted in a sudden 78% drop in poaching, achieved with just 1.2% of the total anti-poaching budget. The findings were published in Science in June.
Illegal rhino horns
Rhinoceroses are the world’s second-largest land mammals after elephants. They adorn themselves with majestic horns made of not bone but keratin — the same fibrous protein found in hair, nails, hooves, and in the scales of many members of the animal kingdom.
The rhino horn isn’t a weapon for hunting; rhinos are primarily vegetarians. Instead, the animals use their horns to dig to access edible plants and roots. The horn also serves as a powerful symbol of virility, as females usually prefer those with the largest horns as mates.
Unfortunately for these creatures, some people also perceive rhino horns as status symbols with which to display wealth and success. The result is a multi-hundred-million-dollar global black market driven by high demand and high prices.
Apart from being a trophy, rhino horns have been used in traditional medicine in Asian countries, especially Vietnam and China, for more than 2,000 years. Exponents of these traditions believe the horn treats everything from fever and gout to more mystical issues like possession. There is no scientific evidence that the horns can heal, however.
A 2022 report by the Wildlife Justice Commission found that the wholesale trade in raw rhino horns between 2012 and 2022 generated between $874 million and $1.13 billion in gross illicit income. A single horn’s price ranges from around $3,382 to $22,257 per kilogram, depending on a horn’s place of origin, type (front or back), labour expenses, and the delivery address.
Why poachers kill
The researchers behind the new study said the strong demand for rhino horns combined with poverty in many local communities creates powerful financial pressures that drive people to risk everything, sometimes their lives, to poach or to support poachers.
To remove a rhino’s horn without causing harm, conservationists and veterinarians sedate, blindfold, and fit the animal with earplugs to reduce stress. Using a saw, they cut 90-93% of the horn, then cut above the germinal layer, which is the living tissue at the horn’s base, essential for regrowth. After trimming, the remaining stump is smoothed and coated with a pine tar substance to prevent drying out or infection.
Poachers often operate under intense pressure, and killing the rhino allows them to remove the entire horn quickly and without resistance. Since every milligram of horn is valuable, leaving behind 10% still attached to the skull isn’t an option. They would prefer to take it all.
Dehorning against poaching
To assess the effectiveness of dehorning in reducing poaching, the researchers analysed quarterly data from 2017 to 2023 across 11 wildlife reserves. Using a hierarchical Bayesian regression model, a powerful statistical tool and a quasi-experimental method that included both abrupt and staggered implementation, they compared reserves that dehorned rhinos with those that didn’t, tracking changes in poaching before and after the intervention.
Reserves that removed the horns reported a 75% drop in poaching compared to pre-dehorning levels. In the seven reserves that implemented abrupt dehorning — within just one to two months — poaching fell off even more sharply, by 78%. At an individual level, dehorned rhinos faced a 95% lower risk of being poached compared to those with intact horns, highlighting the strong deterrent effect of dehorning.
In another striking finding, while efforts to detect and arrest poachers remain a crucial part of the anti-poaching toolkit, they were not found to be as effective at actually deterring poachers. The researchers said this could be because systemic issues and corruption create loopholes that traffickers can exploit to avoid detection. Weak criminal justice systems also make it worse, often allowing poachers to escape with little or no meaningful punishment.
Conservation with locals
Kaziranga National Park in Assam, home to one of the largest populations of greater one-horned rhinos, has also suffered poaching.
Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, an International Union for Conservation of Nature awardee and rhino conservationist, said that while poaching still claims over 400 rhinos a year, India and Nepal lose only one or two over the last three years.
Kaziranga’s success has been attributed to smart patrolling and active community engagement. Partnerships of local communities and park authorities have helped mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
“So why should India or Nepal need dehorning?” Mr. Talukdar asked.
This required extensive groundwork, involving more than 1,000 hours in workshops and discussions with reserve staff and rangers on how to collect and interpret data. The labour-intensive nature of such research highlights the need to involve those on the ground in conservation efforts. Rangers in particular are often locals and possess regional ecological knowledge, but this resource remains underutilised.
Kuiper said rangers are the frontline defenders of conservation. Their welfare — including fair pay, training, and safety — must be prioritised alongside interventions, as lasting success depends on supporting the people who implement these strategies.
The researchers noted that while dehorning might not be a silver bullet, as poachers may still target rhinos for the small horn remnants, it shows strong potential as a long-term strategy. They believe that the study’s findings can help governments and wildlife protection agencies make informed decisions about resource allocation and the effectiveness of interventions.
Sanjukta Mondal is a chemist-turned-science-writer with experience in writing popular science articles and scripts for STEM YouTube channels.
