Prevent the extinction of the rhino.

The use of Silk to prevent the rhinoceros from extinction.

The use of Silk protein components (Fibroin and Sericin) as collagen replacement could be a real help in the battle to prevent the rhinoceros from extinction.

In Africa every year, thousands of rhinos are exterminate to get their horns and tusks: the statistics indicate more than a thousand rhinos and 25,000 elephants.

As for the rhino horns, they are required for unproven medicinal benefits, especially in the eastern countries.

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The Professor in Zoology Fritz Vollrath of the University of Oxford created an “artificial” rhino horn with characteristics completely similar to the original.

The ivory of the horn is not made from a bone, but composed by a myriad of small cohesive and glued hairs, made up of a specific protein, the collagen, present within the connective tissue of animals but also of humans, appears to be incorporated in a highly resistant mineral representing the bones hydroxyapatite

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Interrupting rhino poaching is possible

The team of the Professor Vollrath has verified that by mixing this mineral with liquid silk deriving from the cocoon, it is possibile to obtain fragments quite similar to the ivory of the rhinos and the elephants horn.

The aim is to introduce an element of disturbance to the clandestine market that is able to erase this bad tradition and the poaching system that is leading to the extinction of those animals.

Beside the news itself, in the view of Silk as the material of the future, it is interesting the confirmation of what is already chemically and empirically known, in other words, the perfect compatibility of Silk Proteins with the natural proteins such as collagen, present in our body and mainly in our epidermis.

The presence of a “friendly” protein such as silk Sericin and Sibroin supports and increase the natural production of collagen protein and its synthesis, essential for the regeneration, care, wellness and health of the tissues of our skin.