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posted by cmn32480 on Friday May 29 2015, @12:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the are-you-horny-baby? dept.

A startup company called Pembient is developing a process to synthesize rhino horns. Their aim is to mass produce fakes that are indistinguishable from real horns, and hence destroy the profit motive for killing wild rhinos.

The plan begins with using modified yeast cells to produce a substance called keratin, the main component of the horn. Various trace elements found in natural horns are added in, as well as genuine rhino DNA. From these materials, a 3D printer is then used to recreate the complex structure of the horn. The only things that are missing, are the trace elements of pollutants that have made their way into the real rhino horn over time. This makes the synthetic horn more pure than the real one.

Some wildlife groups are very skeptical of the plan.

Pembient's concept, which another company – Rhinoceros Horn LLC – is also pursuing a version of, has raised the hackles of conservation groups from the World Wildlife Foundation to the wildlife monitoring network Traffic. It panders to consumers' behaviour rather than trying to change it, which could set back efforts to educate, they say. "There is general horror at the idea," says Cathy Dean, international director of the UK-based charity Save the Rhino, which earlier this month issued a joint statement with the International Rhino Foundation opposing the synthetic horn. Dean adds that ersatz horn is unlikely to dent the market – if people can afford the real thing they are going to buy it – and rebukes the company for failing properly to consult conservation professionals on the idea first.

 
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by WillAdams on Friday May 29 2015, @12:36PM

    by WillAdams (1424) on Friday May 29 2015, @12:36PM (#189634)

    The problem is, the people buying rhinoceros horn have bought into this mythology where it has supernatural properties.

    The one thing one can hope will come of this is that it will force the poachers to keep such good records so as to prove the bloody provenance of their supply that it will make prosecution easier.

    The way to fix this sort of thing is the same as for most other human problems, a decent education and the reasonable opportunity for a decent lifestyle.

    Put the poachers to work guarding the herds (and allow a reasonable amount of hunting to cull the herds --- tags should be issued on a fair and open basis which includes a chance for locals to have an opportunity to get them --- outsiders who get tags should be required to put in a reasonable bit of sweat equity guarding the herds or otherwise caring for them).

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  • (Score: 1) by jpkunst on Friday May 29 2015, @12:46PM

    by jpkunst (2310) on Friday May 29 2015, @12:46PM (#189636)

    My impression is that rhinos are almost extinct, so even if the poaching stops, "culling the herds" will not be necessary for a long time to come.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by wisnoskij on Friday May 29 2015, @12:57PM

    by wisnoskij (5149) <{jonathonwisnoski} {at} {gmail.com}> on Friday May 29 2015, @12:57PM (#189640)

    I think the idea us that most poachers will just go to a store and buy the fakes. Good quality reproductions have destroyed a lot of previously lucrative markets in rare objects, no reason to believe it won't do the same here. It is not like the poachers can start up a rhino horn cartel.

    With the majority of people being conned, or honesting thinking it is compatible, into buying fake horns the market should drop out and make poaching unprofitable.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @01:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @01:14PM (#189644)

      If that doesn't work, we could always poach the poachers, see I've a superstitious belief about poacher parts, they bring me luck. I only want the fingers with rings, though.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @01:49PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @01:49PM (#189656)

        There's a market for human body parts in Africa so you're actually fairly correct.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @02:06PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @02:06PM (#189663)

        I only want the fingers with rings, though.

        Okay, so uncircumcised penisis then. Got it.

      • (Score: 2) by Anne Nonymous on Friday May 29 2015, @03:35PM

        by Anne Nonymous (712) on Friday May 29 2015, @03:35PM (#189705)

        Dian Fossey did this and look how it ended [wikipedia.org] for her.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @09:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @09:01PM (#189843)

        see I've a superstitious belief about poacher parts, they bring me luck. I only want the fingers with rings, though.

        Nonono, not fingers; human horn [theinfosphere.org] is the aphrodisiac. Just remember, you want the lower horn.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @10:42PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @10:42PM (#189872)

          Bringing down a charging wino can be dangerous.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Friday May 29 2015, @02:09PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Friday May 29 2015, @02:09PM (#189665) Journal

      This.
      Poachers just want to make money. If a person looking to buy rhino horn can't tell the difference then what does the poacher care?

    • (Score: 2) by Tramii on Friday May 29 2015, @04:27PM

      by Tramii (920) on Friday May 29 2015, @04:27PM (#189722)

      Exactly! If you can make a close enough copy, the poachers will start to sell the fakes instead of the real ones. I mean, the poachers are already doing something illegal. It's not like they will be facing a huge moral dilemma. They are just in it for the money, and if they can make the same amount without having to risk going out into the wild and possibly getting caught, why not? Using the fakes will be cheaper, easier and safer for them.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by CRCulver on Friday May 29 2015, @01:07PM

    by CRCulver (4390) on Friday May 29 2015, @01:07PM (#189641) Homepage
    You make it sound as if rhino horn is only used by the African poachers or people as poor and uneducated as they are. In fact, the international trade in endangered animal products is driven in large part by Chinese demand, and the Chinese consumers are just as likely to be university-educated and wealthy. Just as in the Western world where someone can have an advanced degree and a good income and still avidly follow the newspaper horoscope every day, education and a higher standard of living doesn't mean that practices one calls superstitions are just going to go away.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by WillAdams on Friday May 29 2015, @02:30PM

      by WillAdams (1424) on Friday May 29 2015, @02:30PM (#189671)

      I would not consider an education which allowed one to retain an unsupported, superstitious belief about the ``supernatural powers'' of an animal product to be a decent one.

      • (Score: 2) by CRCulver on Friday May 29 2015, @02:48PM

        by CRCulver (4390) on Friday May 29 2015, @02:48PM (#189680) Homepage

        I'm not sure that Chinese consumers would believe these products to have supernatural powers, as they are not meant to impart some mysterious baraka or spiritual energy. Rather, these products are believed to have entirely natural medicinal properties like any number of herbal remedies. Of course, one might hold that the science behind it is bunk, but consumers are basing their trust in the product on a misunderstanding of the science instead of religious belief.

        As for an education that preserves belief in the superstition to not be a "decent" one, again, so much of the Western world with advanced degrees, leaders in their fields, etc., believes in some kind of belief that one might label superstition. Just because a university education isn't perfect in one's eyes doesn't, I think, make a case for calling it "not decent".

        • (Score: 1) by WillAdams on Friday May 29 2015, @06:47PM

          by WillAdams (1424) on Friday May 29 2015, @06:47PM (#189780)

          Please re-read what I wrote:

          > unsupported, superstitious belief about the ``supernatural powers'' of an animal product

          I don't believe that there's any reasonable religion which requires / enforces that (even if one extends it to plant products, it's not the wine or the bread which has supernatural powers, it's the Priest transforming it in a miracle into identical items which have an additional spiritual property through transubstantiation, but are physically identical --- ``the only recommended daily allowance the host has is of God....'' and all that).

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @07:13PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @07:13PM (#189795)

            > reasonable religion

            Don't fall into the trap of thinking that formalized religion is the only kind of religious thinking. For example, catholicism is notorious for adopting local superstitions. Repurposing a pagan holiday into christmas is probably the most well known. So while the big details are likely standardized all the little local influences will not be.

            Chinese medicine is mostly about the body being imbalanced in terms of things like yin-yang, qi, etc and the treatments are meant to restore balance. Given that frame of reference it is entire plausible that artificially manufactured treatments will lack the required amount of yin, qi, etc. Traditional chinese medicine doesn't have a consistent formalized practice the way western medicine does so at a minimum one 'doctor' can have a different idea about what is valid and what isn't.

          • (Score: 2) by CRCulver on Friday May 29 2015, @07:52PM

            by CRCulver (4390) on Friday May 29 2015, @07:52PM (#189813) Homepage
            And please re-read what I wrote. Chinese interest in endangered animal products has nothing supernatural about it. These products are erroneously believed to work through natural means, not supernatural ones.
            • (Score: 1) by WillAdams on Friday May 29 2015, @08:01PM

              by WillAdams (1424) on Friday May 29 2015, @08:01PM (#189817)

              Fine.

              If one then offered such a Chinese person two rhinoceros horns, one genuine, one fake, each at the same price, which would they choose and why?

              I'm betting that they'd pick and prefer the genuine one.

              I'm also betting that they will choose not to purchase the fake ones --- seems as if the people making the fakes suspect this as well, hence their plan to flood the market, rather than market directly.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @08:35AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @08:35AM (#190027)

              So what if they don't think it is supernatural? It has no basis in reality, so by definition it is a supernatural belief even if they don't think so.

      • (Score: 5, Funny) by tonyPick on Friday May 29 2015, @03:24PM

        by tonyPick (1237) on Friday May 29 2015, @03:24PM (#189697) Homepage Journal

        I would not consider an education which allowed one to retain an unsupported, superstitious belief about the ``supernatural powers'' of an animal product to be a decent one.

        And would you place that as better or worse than the one where you get told about communicating telepathically with a Jewish zombie carpenter that's his own dad? [nytimes.com].

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @04:34PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @04:34PM (#189726)

          Or where some members of a board of education (people responsible for ensuring a good education) are attempting to force evolution out of text books.

          There appears to be no correlation between education and superstition.

          • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday May 29 2015, @06:56PM

            by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 29 2015, @06:56PM (#189787) Journal

            There is a correlation, it's just FAR short of perfect. And I'm not aware of any country with an education system that emphasizes evaluation of the evidence.

            --
            Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
        • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday May 29 2015, @10:56PM

          by dyingtolive (952) on Friday May 29 2015, @10:56PM (#189883)

          Man, the frustrating thing is that I'm in my 30s and I'm too haggard to look half as douchy as he does. I seriously had to buy a ball cap to wear backwards to get people to start wanting to punch me in the face again. Wonder what his secret is.

          --
          Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
      • (Score: 2) by Nuke on Friday May 29 2015, @07:10PM

        by Nuke (3162) on Friday May 29 2015, @07:10PM (#189794)

        I would not consider an education which allowed ... superstitious belief about ... an animal product to be a decent one.

        1) It is not a superstitious belief. It is a medical belief. Just as phoney though.

        2) Plenty of "decently" educated people have superstitious beliefs. I was eduated at a uni with impeccable credentials and saw plenty of people with such beliefs.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @07:18PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @07:18PM (#189796)

          1) It is not a superstitious belief. It is a medical belief. Just as phoney though.

          2) Plenty of "decently" educated people have superstitious beliefs. I was eduated at a uni with impeccable credentials and saw plenty of people with such beliefs.

          Do people who believe that name-brand drugs have better efficiacy over generic drugs qualify as superstitious? Where exactly is the line between superstition and just believing in something because you can't really prove it one way or the other and lack the time and resources to run it down for yourself?

          • (Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday May 30 2015, @12:31PM

            by Nuke (3162) on Saturday May 30 2015, @12:31PM (#190084)

            Where exactly is the line between superstition and just believing in something because you can't really prove it

            Easy. Superstition is believing in para-normal powers, ie powers beyond physics. For example believing in ghosts.

            Believing in a physical explanation for something but cannot prove it because you do not have the power/time/equipment to prove it, is not superstition. For example where I live there are frequent brief electrical power cuts. I believe it is a tree somewhere shorting the overhead wires. The electricty company won't investigate because they say the cuts are within their charter tolerances. So I cannot prove my belief that it is caused by trees, but that does not make my belief a superstition.

            I believe (!) that people's belief in rhino horns falls in the latter category, something to do with its chemistry.

        • (Score: 1) by WillAdams on Friday May 29 2015, @08:08PM

          by WillAdams (1424) on Friday May 29 2015, @08:08PM (#189822)

          See other comment where I ask whether the people in question would accept the fakes or no.

          Ages ago, my mother wanted the antlers from my first buck to grind up to make a medicinal product --- when I demurred and instead told her that we could look up the chemical consituents of the antlers and use the raw chemicals instead and that it would be just as efficacious, she became agitated in a manner unique to Korean moms and would not accept even the idea of the substitute.

          It's superstition. If it wasn't they'd look up the relevant chemicals and have that compounded by their local pharmacist since that would be less expensive.

          I grew up in a culture akin to the one in question (and which shares many beliefs) --- I was delivered by a midwife who declared, ``When I was young, we wouldn't keep a baby like this, we'd put him on the hill for the wolves.'' --- to reiterate, it's superstitious nonsense, and the sooner it can be stamped out by a decent education, the sooner the world will be a better place.

  • (Score: 2) by Nuke on Friday May 29 2015, @07:02PM

    by Nuke (3162) on Friday May 29 2015, @07:02PM (#189790)

    one can hope will come of this is that it will force the poachers to keep such good records so as to prove the bloody provenance of their supply

    Faking paper records is even easier than faking rhino horns. No-one will be able to rely on paper records, neither buyers nor law-enforcers.

    The way to fix this sort of thing is the same as for most other human problems, a decent education and the reasonable opportunity for a decent lifestyle.

    Dream on. What makes you think that educating people stops them being criminals? The characteristics are orthogonal. Educating criminals makes them cleverer criminals. Dr Shipman did not lack an education, nor do the bankers who keep stealing from us.

    Put the poachers to work guarding the herds

    Yes. Like I have got a fox guarding my hen house right now.

    The point is to undermine the market for rhino horn by making people unsure whether they are paying for the real thing.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @11:15PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @11:15PM (#189890)

      The records which buyers will expect will be a photograph of a recent newspaper next to the bloody carcass of the rhinoceros --- they want freshness and proof of a dead animal so as to enhance their virility.

  • (Score: 1) by Translation Error on Friday May 29 2015, @08:51PM

    by Translation Error (718) on Friday May 29 2015, @08:51PM (#189837)

    The one thing one can hope will come of this is that it will force the poachers to keep such good records so as to prove the bloody provenance of their supply that it will make prosecution easier.

    Buyers insisting the poachers present thorough documentation of their illegal activities? Yes, I'm sure that will go over well.