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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.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by wisnoskij on Friday May 29 2015, @12:57PM
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
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
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
Okay, so uncircumcised penisis then. Got it.
(Score: 2) by Anne Nonymous on Friday May 29 2015, @03:35PM
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
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
Bringing down a charging wino can be dangerous.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Friday May 29 2015, @02:09PM
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
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.