新的假犀牛角技术，可能会抑制偷猎者的市场

新的假犀牛角技术，可能会抑制偷猎者的市场

Scientists have invented a technique for constructing a fake rhino horn they hope will put a dent in the illegal horn market threatening the survival of the species.

科学家们发明了一种制造假犀牛角的技术，他们希望能在威胁犀牛生存的非法犀牛角市场上找到一个突破口。

Researchers at the University of Oxford and Fudan University in China have recently found a way to make fake rhino horns cheaply from horsehair, according to the BBC.

据英国广播公司报道，牛津大学和中国复旦大学的研究人员，最近发现了一种用廉价马毛制造假犀牛角的方法。

They’ve found a way to compress and fashion the horsehair in a way that feels similar to the real thing – even when the “horn” is cut.

他们已经找到了一种压缩马毛并使其时尚化的方法，成品与真实的犀牛角很相似——甚至“牛角”在被割破的时候也是如此。

The project hopes to make an artificial horn that’s so realistic it would trick poachers. Their goal is to “flood the market” with fakes that would, in turn, decrease the value of actual horns, according to the outlet.

该项目希望制造一种非常逼真的人造角，骗过偷猎者。据报道，他们的目标是用假犀牛角“充斥市场”，从而降低真犀牛角的价值。

Scientists say if the fakes can be produced cheaply, it would cut prices of the actual horns and reduce the monetary incentive for poaching the rhinos.

科学家们表示，如果能以低廉的成本生产假犀牛，就能降低真犀牛角的价格，并减少偷猎犀牛的金钱激励。

“It appears from our investigation that it is rather easy as well as cheap to make a bio-inspired horn-like material that mimics the rhino’s extravagantly expensive tuft of nose hair,” Prof Fritz Vollrath, from the University of Oxford’s Department of Zoology told the BBC.

牛津大学动物学系的弗里茨·沃尔拉思教授对BBC说：“从我们的调查来看，制作一种仿牛角的材料，既容易又便宜。”。

The Oxford team believes the fakes would help to “confuse the trade,” although some worry it could unintentionally increase the rhino horn market.

牛津研究小组认为，这些假货将有助于“混淆交易”，尽管一些人担心这可能无意中增加犀牛角市场。

John Taylor, deputy director of Save the Rhino International, told the outlet the fake rhino horns entering the market would actually expand it and create even more demand for the horns, which he says could deplete their population even faster.

拯救犀牛国际的副总监约翰·泰勒(John Taylor)告诉这家卖场，假犀牛角进入市场实际上会扩大市场，并对犀牛角产生更大的需求，他说这可能会更快地减少犀牛角的数量。

He believes the most important way to help the rhinos is to concentrate on anti-poaching methods and other ways to reduce the demand for consumers.

他认为，帮助犀牛最重要的方法，是集中精力采取反偷猎和其他减少消费者需求的方法。

“There is no substitute for anti-poaching measures at one end and reducing demand at the other,” he told the BBC.

他告诉BBC:“一头是反偷猎措施，另一头是减少需求，这是无可替代的。”