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Each year, a selection of seemingly weird and unnecessary science experiments are awarded the Ig Nobel Prize. Awarded by the scientific and humorous magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the prize rewards projects that “first make people laugh, then make them think”.
A recent study that hung rhinos upside down by their ankles from a helicopter must have been a benchmark for the award judges, securing the 2021 Ig Nobel Transport Prize. But while the hanging rhinos produce photographs spectacularly absurd, behind the price and the study lies serious business.
The rhinos are in trouble. There are five rhino species and all of them are threatened. The three-ton white rhino is the least threatened, but only about 20,000 remain in the wild. The inverted hanging species in the study is the black rhino, weighing 1.5 tonnes and with an estimated population of only 5,000.
In an attempt to protect rhino populations, conservationists have tried dehorning (to try to make rhinos less desirable to poachers), translocation (moving rhinos, including upside down by helicopter), and even resurrection (creation of embryos from eggs and sperm, or even DNA, of dead individuals).
We move rhinos because they live in guarded and fenced areas to keep them watched – and protected, in theory, from rhino horn poaching, their main threat. But this prevents animals from colonizing new areas, recolonizing vacant areas, or mixing genes between areas.
Environmentalists must therefore lend a hand – or helicopter – to place the rhinos in new regions. But until the Ig Nobel Prize winning study, we weren’t entirely sure this upside down transport was actually safe for the rhinos involved.
Hanging herbivores
The capture and transfer of large mammals can be dangerous and affect the welfare of the animals concerned. Large African mammals, including elephants, giraffes, and rhinos, are physiologically sensitive.
The whole process of capture and translocation can lead to psychological and physiological stress. If such animals receive too much tranquilizer, or are left in the wrong position under tranquilizer, they can die.
Historically, methods of transferring wildlife have been informal and experimental, with effective methods spreading by word of mouth. Increasingly, this ad-hoc approach has been replaced by formal scientific research, either supporting perceived wisdom or providing new innovations.
It is therefore important, only for animal health and welfare reasons, that the procedures applied to capture and move large animals are as safe and non-disruptive as possible.
For several years, African rhinos have been moved by hanging them upside down from a helicopter, blindfolded and under tranquilizers. Besides allowing for the short-range capture and transfer of rhinos from areas inaccessible by road, transport by helicopter can mean shorter travel times, so it may be preferable for the rhino when practical.
But no one had ever established whether the upside-down suspension was harmful to rhinos. Sure, rhinos look fine when they’re awakened to their final destination – but are they really OK afterwards?
This is where science comes in. It might sound funny to deliberately hang 12 black rhinos upside down for 10 minutes just to monitor their physiology. But if no one does the research, no one knows if this is a safe way to transport an endangered animal.
The Ig Noble award-winning study compared the respiratory function and metabolic effects of rhinos when hanging by the ankles to when the same animals were lying on their side.
Researchers have found that the respiratory efficiency of rhinos hanging upside down is slightly better than when rhinos are lying on their side during tranquilization. Thus, the process asserts itself at least as good as the traditional modes of transport.
Rhino moving
I have participated in numerous white rhino capture and translocation operations in South Africa for my own research: collecting blood and saliva samples to assess physiological stress associated with capture.
The teams I worked with also used helicopters, but only to dart the rhino with an aerial tranquilizer. The rhinos were then woken up as soon as possible before walking them, blindfolded and ears protected, on crates for road transport by truck to places several hours away.
While transporting rhinos over long distances, it is neither economical nor healthy for the rhino to keep quiet – therefore road transport is preferred.
While being around such awesome beasts is humbling, and the experience of capturing is somewhat exciting, my motivation for being there was science: collecting data on the effects of capturing, ultimately informing and improving conservation of wildlife.
Nonetheless, I always felt a sadness that we had to put these sensitive and gentle giants through such an unnatural process in the first place. But unfortunately we have no choice.
If we are to effectively save endangered species, we cannot simply leave them alone. They need to be managed, and that often means moving them to where they are most safe from poaching, or to new areas to try to expand the population and diversify the local inbred populations.
We want these animals to survive the capture and translocation process, and to have as strong and healthy immune and reproductive systems as possible upon release.
To do this, you need science. And if this science involves hanging rhinos upside down, or other seemingly weird and funny research, let’s do it. Extinction of wildlife is no laughing matter, although it does provide the odd opportunity to laugh as we learn.
Jason Gilchrist, environmentalist, Edinburgh Napier University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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