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Classic brain teaser question: how many steps does it take to put an elephant in the refrigerator? The answer is three steps-open the refrigerator, tuck the elephant in, and close the refrigerator door.

Please think about it. What should you do if you want to transport a four-ton elephant or rhinoceros? If only the answer were as simple as brain teasers!

Although there is a word "black" in the middle of the name, the surface color of the black rhino is more similar to that of gray, which is generally used to distinguish it from the white rhino. | Wikipedia senior wildlife research expert Robin Radcliffe (Robin Radcliffe) and others perfectly answered this question with a study published in the journal Journal of Wildlife Diseases in March 2021, in order to understand the impact on the bodies of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) when transported upside down after being fascinated by the anesthetic.

Although the study may seem absurd, it has been a great success in practice and won the Ig Nobel Prize (Ig Nobel Prizes) Transportation Award in 2021.

Many people may wonder why they need to study how to transport black rhinos. Isn't it good for black rhinos to live safely in their hometown?

Scholars at Cornell University in the United States have given the answer: the main reason is that when poachers are becoming more and more rampant, moving them to the sparsely populated wilderness can save them from the crisis of being hunted. In addition, black rhinos are transported artificially to different habitats, and although they may be temporarily lost in an unfamiliar environment, they will soon become acquainted with heterosexual rhinos. it can also enrich the diversity of the species and the gene pool to some extent.

How rare are black rhinos? In the 20th century, black rhinos were the most numerous of all rhino species. However, due to the high level of poaching in Zimbabwe, the population of black rhinos dropped sharply in the second half of the 20th century, from 70000 to 10000-15000 in 1981. Just a decade later, the population dropped to less than 2500, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the western black rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) is completely extinct.

How cute it is when the little rhino starts! Gifer people have to take some measures to better protect these huge creatures on the verge of extinction. For example, after injecting black rhinos with anesthetic or sedative, they are transported by helicopter to remote, inhabited areas. However, for these large mammals that have been moved around for many years, people have little in-depth understanding of the harm that may be caused by factors such as sedatives, modes of delivery, and different postures during transportation.

For example, injections that turn giant black rhinos into "sleeping beauty" in a second are mostly opioids and may have side effects (shortness of breath, reduced oxygen in the blood and increased metabolism). In other words, the well-intentioned artificial migration may have a greater hidden danger than poaching, which may damage the health of black rhinos and lead to fewer and fewer black rhinos.

But after a variety of considerations, the researchers decided that black rhinos still need to be injected with sedatives, so they began to focus on the posture of black rhinos during transportation.

Black rhinos are also afraid of heights? So put a blindfold on? | Ref. [1] Twelve black rhinos weighing between 802kg and 1233 kg were anesthetized and ordered to lie on their side for ten minutes, and then hung upside down for ten minutes through a crane to compare which of the two positions is safer in the transportation of black rhinos.

According to the physiological indicators of black rhinos, whether lying on their side or hanging upside down, black rhinos have significant hypoxemia (refers to lack of oxygen in the blood) and hypercapnia (due to lack of ventilation or excessive production of carbon dioxide). Causes an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in arterial blood. The average arterial oxygen partial pressure of black rhinoceros with four feet upside down was 42 mmHg, which was 4 mmHg higher than that of lying on the side, and the partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide was 52 mmHg, which was 3 mmHg lower than that of lying on the side.

Although the damage to the black rhino's lung function is not significant in the two positions, the upside down on the black rhino's chest is relatively small, the spine can be better extended, and the inspiratory volume is slightly increased. Breathing is relatively smooth; if the black rhino remains on its side, a large amount of blood flowing in the lower lungs for gas exchange will be oppressed by gravity.

You think it's comfortable to transport black rhinos to their destination, but the actual effect is not as good as you think. | Ref. [1] as a result, the limbs were bound by a rope, the eyes were covered by a mask, hung upside down under the helicopter, wobbled and swayed in the wind during the journey, and bumped into a few short-eyed birds when they were unlucky-this has become a daily routine for rhinos to fly.

In terms of the carrier and mode of transport, hanging the black rhino upside down means:

First, it is easier to fix: when the rhino is lifted while lying down, the stretcher adds extra weight, and a team of six may take up to 30 minutes to locate and secure the rhino to the platform, compared with a few minutes to tie the rope to the animal's legs and feet.

Second, fewer doses of anesthetics: protect the organization from the need to inject large amounts of drugs into rhinos to get through the long and tortuous journey.

Third, faster migration: a long time ago, most rhino migrations were carried out by trucks, but some remote areas could not be reached by road, and land transportation and other methods brought time and economic uncertainty to transportation.

Fourth, better adaptability: the rhino can successfully reach its new home in half an hour. Thanks to the blindfold, the rhino didn't even know he had been in the sky when he got off the plane.

(Tu Yuan pixabay) Radcliffe said that although there is little physiological difference between the two positions in this study, any small change is enough to help us improve the safety of wildlife transportation and let us choose and think about animal welfare more humanely.

Dr. Flaken, an African wildlife conservation expert, also said: "the most beautiful picture I have ever seen in Africa is a three-year-old male rhino swaying to a world without gunfire in the afterglow of sunset."

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Rhino A: if you are kidnapped, blink!

Rhino B: how can I blink when I'm blindfolded? Hey!

Reference:

[1] Radcliffe RW, Jago M, Morkel PV, Morkel E, du Preez P, Beytell P, Kotting B, Manuel B, du Preez JH, Miller MA, Felippe J, Parry SA, Gleed RD. THE PULMONARY AND METABOLIC EFFECTS OF SUSPENSION BY THE FEET COMPARED WITH LATERAL RECUMBENCY IN IMMOBILIZED BLACK RHINOCEROSES (DICEROS BICORNIS) CAPTURED BY AERIAL DARTING. J Wildl Dis. 2021 Apr 1 x 57 (2): 357-367. Doi: 10.7589Compact 2019-08-202. PMID: 33822147.

[2] https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%91%E7%8A%80

This article is from the official Wechat account: bring Science Home (ID:steamforkids), author: everything.

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