No. 182, Animal World : Why are rhinos hung upside-down? (ISL)

Hello. Greetings from Boonary TV. In today's topic of animal world, we'll see "Why are rhinos hung upside-down?" When being airlifted by a helicopter, rhinos are taken hanging upside-down. Why? Let's find out.

Rhinos are in trouble. There are five species of rhinoceros. Some are white rhinos, some black and some are one-horned rhino specifically seen in the Indian state of Assam and all of these are endangered. The number of white rhinos still living are only an estimated 20,000 in the wild. The black rhinos are left only with an estimated population of just 5,000. But why such a less number of rhinos remaining? That's because they are mainly hunted for their horns and these horns are then smuggled for a great price. Do you know how much can you fetch with a rhino horn? A rhino horn weighing 1 kg can fetch an amount between 9.5 lakh to 14.5 lakh. Unbelievable! That's the biggest reason why rhinos are killed. Hence, in an attempt to protect rhino populations, conservationists have tried translocating the rhinos. They are being moved from the open wild forests to live within guarded, fenced areas to keep them monitored – and protected from poaching for their horns. How are they translocated? Watch ahead.

The video might have shocked you to see how these rhinos are blindfolded and airlifted upside-down strapped at their ankles. That's inhumane you might think. But recently a wildlife veterinarian Robin Radcliffe conducted an experiment and found out that translocation like this was actually safe for the rhinos. Why is that? He along with his team, in their experiment deliberately hung 12 black rhinos upside-down for 10 minutes using a crane just to monitor and compare their responses when they were kept in the upside-down position with keeping them lying sideways. It turns out that when a rhino is lying sideways on its chest, the lower lung receives lots of blood flow for gas exchange, but the upper part of the lung is not getting perfused well. On the other hand, when a rhino is hanging upside down, the lung is equally perfused. Another reason is that if the rhinos are lying sideways their muscles might damage as they're very heavy and there's no pressure on their legs. Does it mean that rhinos are always moved like this upside-down? Take a look?

Some areas of the wild are inaccessible by road, in such cases translocating them by the helicopter is better as it's a quicker option too. But this requires tranquillizing them. It's similar to a patient being given an anaesthesia before a surgery is performed. If such animals are given too great a tranquilliser drug dose, or are left in the wrong position under tranquillisation, they can die. Longer distances can mean higher dosage of tranquillizers which is not safe. Therefore, road transport is preferred.
It's sad to see that we have to put these gentle giants through such an unnatural process. Nevertheless we have no choice. If we leave them, they're at risk of being killed. So they need to be carefully managed and moved to keep them safe and healthy.

Видео No. 182, Animal World : Why are rhinos hung upside-down? (ISL) канала Boonary TV