It is ironic that two great mammals with evolutionary lineages stretching back some 55 million years or so should be facing challenges to their survival for the very characteristics that have served them so well—tusks in the case of elephants and horns in that of rhinos. For hundreds of thousands of years humans have held a fascination for these massive protuberances. They have symbolized wealth and power, and our insatiable need to possess them has led to the wanton killing of these magnificent creatures in numbers that boggle the imagination.
ALL ABOUT HORN
In the case of rhino horn the demand has gone one step further, for civilizations both past and present have ascribed magical and medicinal properties to its substance. This has fueled an illicit market for rhino horn that has, not for the first time, driven rhinos in Africa and Asia towards the brink. There is no real scientific support for any medicinal value in rhino horn. But neither have there been proper and exhaustive studies to determine conclusively that the molecular components of horn hold no pharmaceutical properties at all. Clearly there are opportunities for such tests to be conducted under the auspices of reputable academic institutions. In the meantime we here attempt to unravel myth, legend, fact and fiction, all so confusingly woven into the fabric of horn.
Photo credit: Ross Couper
Are the curative powers ascribed to rhino horn just quackery—a mixture of nonsense and pseudoscience? The instinctive response, particularly in the West, is likely to be an overwhelming, “Yes”. But there are numerous other products and therapies that are not subject to scientific rigor in terms of their curative claims, many with ardent followers in Western countries. Are the supposed medicinal qualities ascribed to rhino horn any more outrageous than those? It’s hard to say with absolute certainty.
There are two many quoted studies that state that rhino horn has no medicinal qualities, but there are question marks over both. In 1980 the Swiss “Big Pharma” giant, Hoffman LaRoche, undertook a study on behalf of WWF. Although the results reputedly said that the tests, inter alia, “showed no analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmolytic nor diuretic properties,” the report was not published in its entirety and was subsequently unable to be traced. Dr Raj Amin of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) stated in a short video that, “There is no evidence at all that any constituents of rhino horn have any medicinal property.” Amin’s investigation, however, focused on rhino horn fingerprinting, and the ZSL confirms that it has never conducted any studies on the medical properties of horn.
During the 1990s, Dr Paul But Puihay, director of the Medicinal Material Research Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, conducted tests around the effectiveness of rhino horn and its substitutes. His conclusion was that the horn did have an effect and should not be dismissed lightly.
All of this and more is covered in great detail in Dr Felix Patton’s comprehensive essay “The Medicinal Value of Rhino Horn—a quest for the truth.” Dr Patton, an independent rhino ecologist, says that although horn and fingernails are both made up made primarily of keratin, you can’t assume that the chemical composition of each is identical. “Since chemical composition may have implications for medicinal properties, it is misleading to state that chewing fingernails will have the same medicinal effect as taking rhino horn.”
And as Dr Mike Knight of the IUCN Species Survival Commission points out in an Africa Check article, “There are three research findings that show fever reducing responses in children, so there is something there—some minor effect.”
It seems then that, despite widespread skepticism regarding rhino horn as medicine, the jury is, to an extent at least, out. And while a number of studies have come up with viable plant-based alternatives to rhino horn as well as suggestions that water buffalo and yak horn would be just as effective, the definite study on rhino horn properties at the molecular level, still has to be done.
In most horned mammals the horn has a living, bony core covered by a thin sheath of keratin. Keratin is nature’s armor plating—it is the hard protein-based material that comprises hair, nails, scales, feathers, beaks and claws in mammals, birds, reptiles and other vertebrates. The baleen plates of filter-feeding whales are also composed of keratin. In toughness and strength the only other biological structure with similar properties is chitin, a cellulose-like glucose-based material that makes up the exoskeleton of insects and other arthropods and the cell wall structure of fungi.
Rhino horn differs in that it lacks a bony core and is almost entirely made up of keratin. But it is not simply a uniform mass of tightly compacted hair-like fibers as once thought. In 2006, a study published by Ohio State University in the USA referred to scans revealing dark patches running through the horn center. These were found to be dense deposits of calcium and melanin and it is believed that they serve an important purpose: calcium adds hardness and strength to the core of the horn, while the melanin protects the core from the sun’s harmful UV rays that are able to penetrate the outer layers.
The comparatively softer outer portion of the horn weakens with exposure to the sun, rubbing on woody plants and hard ground, as well as in clashes with other rhinos. As a result the horn gradually weathers into its characteristic shape, curved and pointed at the tip—think of a pencil’s tough graphite core surrounded by softer wood. “Ultimately, we think our findings will help dispel some of the folk wisdom attached to the horn. The more we can learn about the horn, the better we can understand and manage rhino populations in the wild and in captivity,” says Lawrence Witmer, professor of anatomy in Ohio University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and director of the project. Find out more about the work of Professor Witmer and his colleagues.
Although the supposed medicinal powers of rhino horn tend to focus on the old and current beliefs of eastern cultures, it is important to note that confidence in the pharmaceutical efficacy of rhino horn remedies reaches back through the centuries in many parts of the world, including Europe.
For example, ancient Greeks believed that rhino horn had the ability to purify water, and 2,500 years ago the Persians thought liquid poisons would froth up if poured into a hollowed out rhino horn. Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity at times shared this belief, as did the crowned heads of Europe up to as recently as the 18th and 19th centuries. Could there be a vestige of truth in these legends? Possibly—alkaloid poisons might react with the keratin in the rhino horn.
Physicians throughout Asia used it as a treatment for relief from a variety of symptoms and illnesses. And in Chinese medicine, horn ground into a powder was used to lower fever and to ease such afflictions as rheumatism and gout. The list of applications was, and still is, long—snakebite, boils, food poisoning, possession by spirits, headaches, hallucinations, high blood pressure, and even typhoid were no match for the putative curative powers of rhino horn. Find out more about Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM) below.
During the Middle Ages it didn’t take long for Arab traders to recognize the commercial value of unicorn horn in Europe and they were quick to market rhino horn as the real deal. The single, spiraled tusk of the narwhal was also proffered as unicorn horn.
“Unicorn horn” and the powder from it, referred commonly to as “alicorn”, was said to have the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. Royalty had cups and cutlery made of it and Martin Luther is alleged to have called out for it on his deathbed. And it is probably little realized that “unicorn horn” was officially recognized as a drug in England until 1741.
Numerous studies and experiments have been conducted over the years to test whether the rhino horn really possesses any form of curative properties or medicinal value, but there is little scientific evidence to support such claims. (See “Medical value—Does or doesn’t horn have curative powers.”)
Many practitioners of traditional medicine now refrain from prescribing it, given the parlous state of rhinos worldwide. But traditions still hold sway in some communities and modern urban legends persist with nonsense about horn as an aphrodisiac and even a cure for cancer. Together with beliefs in rhino horn as symbols of wealth and influence as well its desirability as a hangover cure and an ecstasy-like party drug amongst wealthy young Vietnamese, these baseless attributes continue to drive the killing of rhinos.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
TCM is based on the idea that mind, emotions and spirit, together with the body’s physical structures, form a complex and integrated whole. Maintaining and restoring balance between these components is fundamental to TCM practice dating back more than 2,000 years. Clinical diagnosis in TCM is a complex process with an emphasis on establishing whether a disease or illness is either hot or cold in nature, superficial or deep, and developing acutely or slowly. Once defined, appropriate remedies (which include animal parts, plants and minerals) can be prescribed. Rhino horn is regarded as a “cold” drug and as such is used to counteract “hot” conditions—heat has a broader interpretation than the western association with fever.
There is no scientific evidence of the unicorn’s existence, but stories from antiquity abound with tales of unicorns, horse or goat-like creatures (often white) with a single spiral horn emanating from their foreheads. They were depicted on seals dating back to the Indus Valley Civilization 3,300–1300 years ago and ancient Greek travelers and historians wrote about them. Even the Old Testament of the Bible mentions a one-horned beast—the re’em—a word that is sometimes translated as a unicorn.
Unicorns certainly never existed, so how did the folklore around them originate? Maybe it was from paintings and carvings of aurochs. (These now extinct cattle were often represented side-on which gave the impression of having a single horn.) Or could these fanciful creatures actually have been rhinos? Possibly, and in some cases quite probably. For example, the Greek physician Ctesias who served in the Persian court around 404 BCE, described a creature from India that had a “purple head and carried a single horn upon its forehead.” Although Ctesias was given to wild claims and passing on second hand information, his description sounds very much like that of an Indian Rhino.
Maybe the unicorn/rhino association dates back to even earlier times. The last remnant populations of the giant Elasmotherium were still around in Asia about 29,000 years ago, briefly overlapping with the earliest humans known to have lived there. This massive extinct rhino is thought to have carried a huge single horn on its forehead. Did tales of this great beast get passed down from generation to generation? Who really knows.
The qilin of Eastern myth is sometimes referred to as the Chinese unicorn, but this beast of fancy is more dragon-like (a chimera with the body of a deer, the head of a lion, green scales and a long, forwardly-curved horn). The Japanese version is more like the Western portrayal while the Vietnamese representation embodies ancient symbols of wealth and prosperity. Could the current Vietnamese belief in the power of rhino horn have its roots in this lore?
