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Short Sharp Science: A New Scientist blog

Black rhinos airlifted by their ankles to safe haven

Chelsea Whyte, contributor

blackrhino1.jpg(Image: Michael Raimondo/Green Renaissance/WWF)

A flying rhinoceros is about as likely as a flying pig, but this picture is no exaggeration.

Conservation organisation WWF airlifted 19 black rhinos out of Eastern Cape province of South Africa, moving them 1500 kilometres north to Limpopo province to put the rhinos out of range of poachers.

The rotund animals, which can weigh between 800 and 1400 kilograms, were anaesthetised and blindfolded before being lifted by their ankles with long straps connected to a helicopter. After a 10-minute flight, the rhinos are transferred to trucks, which transport them the rest of the journey. This new technique for relocating large animals reduces the stress on the rhinos and eases transportation through dangerous or uneven areas.

blackRhino2.jpg"Previously rhinos were either transported by lorry over very difficult tracks, or airlifted in a net," says project leader Jacques Flamand. "This new procedure is gentler on the darted rhino because it shortens the time it has to be kept asleep with drugs, the respiration is not as compromised as it can be in a net and it avoids the need for travel in a crate over terrible tracks."

This group of 19 rhinos is the seventh population that WWF's Black Rhino Range Expansion Project has relocated. There are only 4500 members of the species left globally.

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They moved the Rinos 1500 miles North in a 10 minute flight? So an average speed of 9000 miles per hour. One fast helecopter!


1500 miles in a ten minute flight? An F22 Raptor can't do that let alone a Huey. I guess you mean a ten hour flight, though even that is pushing it for a chopper.


It would, indeed, be about as likely as a flying rhino to travel 1500 miles in just 10 minutes. The rhinos are transferred to trucks after ten minutes. The editing error has been fixed.


Try reading, rather than skimming, the whole story before commenting; and what's the point of commenting just to be a sarcastic? The story says that they are airlifted for about ten-minutes and transferred to a truck/lorry. This spares them a truck/lorry trip through the roughest part of the road.


I guess the assumption is, or rather the deduction is, that the rhino is less stressed being hanged upside down by his legs and flown than driven on rough terrain. It may just give the rhino the day of his life, taking off like that.


Chickens travel well like this, perhaps it might be good for humans too, no need to stretch during the flight ... Richard Branson take note!


It is probably not a surprise that a New Scientist viewer noticed a discrepancy in numbers :)
That aside, what this article does point to, although not elaborate, is that poaching sounds to be an issue of such magnitude that conservationists resort to these measures.
I am sure that it was not a simple and cheap operation to organise.


I know the rhinos traveled the 1500km by truck, but I still can't get the image of a jet-packed rhino out of my mind.


In another aricle on New Scientist on endangered animals the black rhino is said to be officially extinct. Meanwhile in this article 19 of them are airlifted from one place. How does one reconcile these two things? Regardless, we ar THE BER are so pleased at the efforts to save this maginificent species. With all the alleged "advance" of our species it is unacceptable that it should lead to the wholesale destruction of others.


The animals must be protected and the black rhinos must be very careful handled. The people are the most important threat for these species and we must protect the wild life before to be to late. I hope the rhinos was fine after this "trip".

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