2025-07 – Rhisotope Project goes stay

31 July 2025 – Wits University

Scientific innovation provides new weapon towards rhino poaching, by making rhino horns detectable and traceable.

The Rhisotope Project goals to create a highly effective deterrent for traffickers.

After six years of intensive analysis and testing, the Rhisotope Project has formally reached operational standing – the place rhinos will successfully be protected by nuclear know-how.

Combatting rhino poaching

The undertaking goals to disrupt the unlawful rhino horn commerce by embedding low-level radioactive isotopes into the horn. These radioisotopes could be detected by radiation detection gear at international locations borders around the globe, permitting for the efficient interception of trafficked horns.

Six months in the past, low ranges of radioactive materials have been embedded into the horns of 20 rhinos residing within the Unesco Waterberg Biosphere. Experimental outcomes on the blood checks of the animals, in addition to veterinary inspections have confirmed that the rhinos are unhurt by the radioisotope ranges used. The undertaking is led by researchers from the Wits University in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“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,” says Wits University Professor James Larkin who can be the Chief Scientific Officer of the Rhisotope Project.

No hurt to rhinos

Using a method often called organic dosimetry, researchers cultured blood samples and examined the formation of micronuclei in white blood cells — a confirmed indicator of mobile injury. No such injury was discovered within the 20 rhinos throughout the pilot part.

Putting nuclear to good use

“This is just one example of how Wits University’s researchers work and think innovatively, stepping out of the clinical environments of their laboratories to bring bold, creative solutions to some of the world’s toughest challenges — often going above and beyond in their commitment to make a real difference,” says Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University.

The Rhisotope Project was launched to fight the excessive ranges of unlawful poaching of South Africa’s rhinos. Home to the most important inhabitants of the world’s rhinos, South Africa has been combatting the unlawful poaching of rhino horns for greater than a decade, as this threatens to wipe out the already small inhabitants that’s labeled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as “Near Threatened” White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum) and “Critically Endangered” Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis).

“This project exemplifies how nuclear science can be applied in novel ways to address global challenges,” says IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. “By leveraging existing nuclear security infrastructure, we can help protect one of the world’s most iconic and endangered species.”

How it really works

To take a look at the system’s detection functionality, researchers used 3D-printed rhino horns with an identical shielding properties to actual keratin (the natural materials of which rhino horn is made).

“We simulated transport scenarios with the 3D-printed horns on carry-on luggage, air cargo shipments and priority parcel delivery systems and in each case, even a single horn with significantly lower levels of radioactivity than what will be used in practice successfully triggered alarms in radiation detectors,” explains Larkin.

The checks additionally confirmed that particular person horns may very well be detected inside full 40-foot transport containers.

About the Rhisotope Project

The Rhisotope Project operates as a registered non-profit organisation and can be absolutely operational from August 2025. Private and public rhino house owners, NGOs and conservation authorities are urged to contact the Rhisotope Project to deal with their rhinos with radioisotopes as quickly as potential.

“Our goal is to deploy the Rhisotope technology at scale to help protect one of Africa’s most iconic and threatened species. By doing so, we safeguard not just rhinos but a vital part of our natural heritage,” says Jessica Babich, CEO of the Rhisotope Project.

Partners

The Rhisotope Project’s remaining testing part has been made potential by the collaboration and imaginative and prescient of numerous key companions:

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) whose help has been important in funding core analysis and growth,
• The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) for offering scientific management and innovation all through the undertaking,
• Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa),
• The Limpopo Rhino Orphanage, whose pioneering dedication to conservation and willingness to help this groundbreaking work has been invaluable and
• The UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere, now serving because the official launch web site for this initiative and residential to one of many world’s most essential remaining rhino populations.