![]() ![]() Most of the desire for rhino horn seems unrelated to any wish for a raging hard-on, experts say. A modern market for rhino horn necklaces, bracelets and beads has also sprung up. Wealthy buyers bid for antique rhino horn carvings such as cups or figurines to display or as investments. Some purchase horn chunks or powder for traditional medicinal purposes, to ingest or to give others as an impressive gift. ![]() Certain buyers in Vietnam and China-the largest and second-largest black market destinations respectively-covet rhino horn products for different reasons. These days the main threat to the surviving rhinos comes from the illegal rhino horn trade between Africa and Asia. Historically rhino populations were decimated by uncontrolled trophy hunting during the European colonial era. The reality behind the demand is far more complex. But this prurient tidbit overlooks the main factors driving the illegal rhino horn trade-and may even be reinforcing false beliefs about the substance’s powers. Mainstream media coverage blamed its usual suspects: Asian men who supposedly buy rhino horn as a crude form of Viagra. The brazen slaying and dehorning of an endangered white rhino in a wildlife preserve near Paris last month spurred widespread outrage. ![]() Only two females remain, pushing the subspecies closer to extinction. Editor’s Note (3/20/18): This article is being resurfaced following the death of Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino. ![]()
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