Rhino Horn is More Valuable Per Pound Than Gold, Diamonds or Cocaine

There is huge financial incentive for poachers to sell animal parts. For example, gorilla, rhinoceros and elephant populations are all suffering because of poachers. Now, though, researchers have taken a closer look at this trend to see if there's anyway way to stop this particular issue.

One of the issues is that animal products can be more valuable even than precious minerals. Scientists found that the financial incentive for rhino horn is more valuable by weight than gold, diamonds or cocaine.

The scientists studied 74 species of wild herbivores that weigh an average of 220 pounds at adulthood. They found that these large herbivores will continue to disappear from numerous regions with enormous ecological, social and economic loss.

The researchers also found that between 2002 and 2011, the number of forest elephants declined by 62 percent. From 2007 to 2013, the number of rhinoceroses poached skyrocketed from 13 percent per year to 1,004 per year. More than 100,000 elephants were also poached between 2010 and 2012.

"I certainly was taken aback by the data," said Blaire Van Valkenburgh, one of the researchers, in a news release. "For some of the largest animals, such as elephants and rhinos, it is likely a matter of a few decades before they are extinct-and no more than 80 to 100 years for the rest of the large herbivores. Even though an individual elephant or rhino might persist in the wild somewhere in Africa, they will be functionally extinct in terms of their impact on the ecosystem."

The findings reveal the importance of taking steps in conservation in order to protect these animals in the future. If steps aren't taken, it's likely that we may see their extinction within our lifetimes.

The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

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