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IPFS News Link • 3D Printing

Can 3D Printing Save The Rhino?

• By Erin Wildermuth

Falling rhino numbers further iterate this point. Of the Sumatran and Javan rhino species, fewer than 100 of each remain in the wild today. Black and greater one-horned rhinos in the wild count 5,455 and 3,500 respectively. The white rhino is doing relatively better at 20,700 in the wild. Even they are considered "near threatened."

Poaching continues. In fact, the number of rhinos lost to poaching has increased significantly since 2008. Difficult financial times understandably lead to increases in poaching, as people struggle to make a living and support their families. In this case, however, the price surge is a more likely culprit. In 2006, a rhino horn sold for only $800. While that is still a lot of money for someone living in poverty, it is hardly the financial jackpot horn prices now command.

The price surge has been largely attributed to medicinal uses of the horn, many of which are based on fiction rather than science.


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