A new study showed that cutting unicorn pods in a systematic way leads to a significant decrease in overfishing, which raises questions about the effectiveness of expensive anti -fishing techniques used to protect African mammals.
The study, published in the magazine “Science” and highlighted the ways to improve the protection of animals from illegal fishermen, found that the removal of the pods reduced the overfishing by a large percentage between 2017 and 2023.
“It turned out that the removal of unicorn centuries to reduce the incentives of overfishing has achieved a decrease in overfishing by 78%, using only 1.2% of the total number of rhinogenic protection,” said Dr. Tim Kwiber of Nelson Mandela University, and the main researcher in the study.
He added: “We may need to reconsider our goals. Are we satisfied with arresting the fishermen?
The study, which was conducted between January 2017 and December 2023, focused on 11 reserves in the “Kruger” region in South Africa, and compared data from 8 reserves that removed its unicorn centuries with 3 reserves that did not do so. It also analyzed the data from the reserves before and after removing the unicorn centuries.
The study showed that the removal of unicorn centuries has continuously reduced the overfishing, according to Keper. It found that the removal of centuries more than 2000 wonders led to a 78% decrease in overfishing in those eight reserves, which confirms that this intervention was feasible.
The Greater Kruger region in South Africa is home to 25% of the unicorn in the world, and is especially exposed to overfishing.
Evil is a must
To remove the unicorn centuries, workers do the animal, put a gang on his eyes and pay on his ears, then cut his pod with an electric saw. The century grows gradually, as the rhinoceros needs to remove its horns every year and a half to two years. This process pose a very small danger to the animal and does not cause any harm, according to the study.
The results of the study, which lasted 7 years and ended in 2023 as a long -awaited evidence that removing unicorn centuries, which must be done every year to two years because it grows again, helps them survive, even if animals lose part of their composition.
Smugglers pay the black market traders, especially in Asia, tens of thousands of dollars against these centuries, which are wrongly believed to be effective in treating fever, pain and low sexual desire in traditional medicine.
While unlawful illegal markets are eager in parts of Southeast Asia and China to unicorn centuries to use in traditional medicine, the removal of unicorn centuries ends what illegal fishermen seek, according to Tim Koyber.
“The presence of a century is an essential part of the formation of a single -century. Therefore, its removal is an imperative, if it is true. But it is very effective, and there is no doubt that it saved the lives of hundreds of it.”
The overfishing of the centuries constituted a major threat to 5 types of unicorn in the world, as this substance, which is similar to human nails, is commonly used in traditional medicine in China, Vietnam and other Asian countries.
South Africa includes the largest number of black and white rhinoceros. Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya also include large numbers of it. Only 17,500 of the white rhinoceros and 6,500 black -century are left in the world, according to studies.
The numbers of the black -century fell from 70,000 in 1970 to less than 2500 by time when overfish reached the point of the crisis in the mid -1990s, according to the “Save the Wahid Century” organization.
In South Africa, unjust hunting is still high, with 103 of it were killed in the first three months of 2025. Last year, 420 were lost.
A controversial solution
The removal of unicorn centuries has begun in South Africa since 1989. This has raised the opposition of animal rights to protect animal rights, but also questions by environmental preservation experts about the extent of this impact on the health of the rhinoceros, and how the future may seem with more unicorn without pods.
Vanessa Dothi, a researcher in a unicorn world of South Africa -who did not participate in the study -confirmed that the rhinoceros use its horns to defend itself against predators, to compete for its lands, and in the case of the black rhinoceros to search for food, but there is evidence that the rhinoceros whose centuries have become amended his movement to live in smaller areas.
She added that environmental conservation experts do not know the full effects of removal of centuries, but research found that it has no negative impact on unicorn reproduction rates or death rates. “What we know is that the benefits of removing the centuries exceeded any environmental cost that we realize today,” said Dothi.
The advocates of preserving the environment agree that the removal of the centuries alone will not eliminate the unjust hunting of the century, as this is a short and medium -term solution, and there must be other basic efforts, methods that lead to law enforcement more effectively, and support forest guards in the front lines.