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Rhino horn is not actually horn but densely compacted fibers of keratin, a protein found in hair and fingernails. Importing it is illegal in most countries, but an illicit $3 million-a-year trade flourishes in the Middle East and eastern Asia, where dealers pay $450 per lb. wholesale for the stuff. (One large animal can yield 10 lbs. of horn.) It is a myth that the horn is used as an aphrodisiac. In the Far East it is ground into traditional medicines that supposedly reduce fever and stop nosebleeds. It is also coveted in North Yemen, where it is carved into dagger handles that sell for $500 to $12,000 or more.
To close down these markets, Zimbabwe has been working with the World Wildlife Fund and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species to pressure countries to ban trade in rhino horn or to enforce existing laws. Experts say that most Zimbabwean horn is smuggled through Zambia and on to distributors in Burundi and the United Arab Emirates. These countries have become targets for conservationists. "We need to expose and destroy the Zambian syndicate that deals in rhino horn," says Glenn Tatham, Zimbabwe's chief warden. "We need to hit the whole trade with an H-bomb, so to speak, of international outrage."
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean rangers have been capturing Zambezi Valley rhinos and moving them away from the war zone. Since 1984 the teams have relocated nearly 240 animals to safer game reserves and fenced-in ranches. On one recent morning, Warden Clem Coetsee, head of the capture unit, set out with his men to bag their 75th rhino of the three-month dry-weather capturing season. Armed with a heavy darting rifle loaded with nerve-blocking tranquilizer, he spotted a rhino cow, moved into range and took careful aim. The dart hit the beast's shoulder with a thwack. She snorted in alarm, thundered off and collapsed twelve minutes later.
The captured animals, which weigh up to 2,900 lbs., are rolled onto sleds, hoisted with ropes into a truck and transferred into stockade-like holding pens. Sometimes they revive unexpectedly; last year Coetsee was gored in the leg. But most can be hand fed in the holding pens within a few days. And rhino calves, Coetsee reports, like to be tickled.
What if the Zambezi Valley proves to be the rhino's Little Big Horn? Conservationists fear that more is at stake than the possible extinction of a fascinating relic of animal antiquity. "The rhino is a symbol of all endangered wildlife," says Chief Warden Tatham. "If we lose the rhino, will the elephant be next? And after the elephants are gone, will we lose the rest of the game? This is a war we simply must win."