How to Transport a Rhino

Like so many other species on the verge of extinction thanks to poaching, the rhino too has needed active human intervention to preserve it. Not just efforts to protect, but to also transport them to other places because (1) they are a “density-dependent” species (put too many in one place, and their numbers will decline), and (2) they are so few in number that if they all live in the same place, they’re almost sure to have father mating with niece scenarios, and all the problems to the genetic pool that comes with incest.

 

Transporting them in trucks isn’t practical since the places they live in and the places to which they need to be moved to are (and need to be) remote places. Ergo, the method has to been to airlift them. No, not in planes (how would a plane land in those remote places?), but by helicopters. Here is a side by side of how rhinos have been air lifted, after being tranquilized, of course:



If you’re like me, you’d think the pic on the left is better, the one on the right seems so more damaging. And like me, you’d be wrong, says this CNN article!

 

Here’s why the pic on the right is the better option. When tranquilized, their breathing isn’t the same as when they sleep. But rhinos in the upside position (right) had higher blood oxygen levels. Why?

“Radcliffe says the upside-down position allows the spine to stretch which helps to open the airways... The difference between the two postures was small, but because the strong anaesthetic used on the rhino causes hypoxemia -- low oxygen levels in the blood -- even a minor improvement makes a difference to the rhino's welfare.”

 

Luckily, this discovery aligns with other benefits of the upside-down transport mechanism. For one, it avoids the additional weight of the stretcher. It also avoids the effort and time in moving the rhino onto the stretcher. Third, the saved time means the animal can be kept unconscious for lesser time, which in turn means a lesser dosage of the tranquilizer, which then reduces the risk of side-effects to the animal as well as the cost involved.

 

Sometimes, it’s the unintuitive approach that is better on all counts.

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