3D Printing Might Save the Rhinoceros

GordonShure.com writes: San Francisco based biotech startup Pembient have released details of their 3D printing led method to derail the market for Rhinoceros horns. Presently the bulk of demand originates from China, where said horns — gathered in the wild by poachers who usually kill the rhinos — are revered for supposed medicinal qualities. The new firm intends to mix keratin with Rhino DNA, then machine the combination with a 3D printer in a way that their counterfeit horns are difficult to detect by customers and traffickers alike.

The company already mulls expanding its production principle to other, lucrative wild animal trades such as the claws of tigers and lions. Pembient is however a young company — for all their ingenuity, will their ambitions to take on such a colossal black market be realized?

Comments

Re:Rhino horns don't even work!

[TheRaven64]

for the vast majority of the Chinese people, over 90%, do not believe in the effectiveness of the rhino horns

So that's a target market of only 136 million?

with the exception of those living in the Hong Kong and surrounding region (mainly Guangzhou)

Oh, and they're only concentrated in one of the wealthiest areas? Definitely not a problem then.