[Animals] Rhino horns are shrinking from overhunting in Africa

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Rhino horns are rapidly shrinking in size, due to pressure from humans.
South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya: These countries are home to the remaining po[CENSORED]tions of wild rhinos. At the beginning of the 20th century, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) records, there were 500,000 individuals in the wild, distributed among these territories. Today, however, less than 10% of that figure remains. To a large extent, he denounces the institution, because of the excessive hunting in search of rhinoceros horns.

The ecological pressure that human beings impose on the species is already modifying its body. In recent years, researchers at the University of Cambridge have seen rhino horns shrink in size. Scientists suspect that it is a form of forced evolution, which the species is taking to protect itself. This is what we know.

A dizzying (and forced) evolution

From the European colonization of Africa, hunting began to be considered as a recreational activity. Particularly large species: elephants, lions, tigers and rhinoceroses have been victims of the crushing advance of European invaders. Their corpses have been distributed in Europe and Asia, almost as an exploration trophy.

Similarly, big cat tusks and rhinoceros horns have played roles in traditional Asian and African medicine. Therefore, although their commercialization is illegal, they are sold at exorbitant figures on the black market. Sometimes even as aphrodisiacs.

A recent study from the University of Cambridge sheds light on the physiological consequences these dynamics have had on rhinos. From a photographic archive, the researchers realized that its horns have shrunk in less than a century.

Also read: Rhinos have been extinct for millions of years, reveals a genomic study

A defense mechanism?
The study was published in People and Nature, where the team measured the horns of 80 rhinos photographed in profile between 1886 and 2018. The files belong to the Rhino Resource Center, and include all five rhino species: white, black, Indian, Javanese and Sumatra. They have all been victims of the same phenomenon.

According to the researchers, poachers seek out rhinos with longer horns because they can get more out of them. Thus, the po[CENSORED]tion of rhinoceroses with smaller horns is the one that survives, and its genetic characteristics are transmitted to succeeding generations.

“WE WERE VERY EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO FIND PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE THAT RHINOCEROS HORNS HAVE BECOME SHORTER OVER TIME,” EXPLAINS THE LEAD AUTHOR OF THE STUDY, OSCAR WILSON, IN A RELEASE. “THEY ARE PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT THINGS TO WORK ON IN NATURAL HISTORY DUE TO SAFETY CONCERNS.”

Still, the fact that his horns shrink is not good news. Over millions of years, rhinos developed them to defend themselves and grab food. Therefore, as its defense and feeding tools are reduced, the species also faces new challenges to survive.

https://www.ngenespanol.com/animales/los-cuernos-de-rinoceronte-se-estan-encogiendo/