How do you re-home a rhino by helicopter? Upside down

oldbrownhat

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Unlikely as it is that any of us should be called to do this, but if so, this is how it's done :) Sometimes using repurposed battle-scarred UH1-H Hueys.

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... the crew ties big, soft straps around the rhino's four ankles. The straps connect to a single rope which is hooked to the underside of the helicopter...

...Radcliffe's team, which partnered with Namibia's government, pioneered the netless, slinging method of moving rhinos upside down under a helicopter. In 2021, Radcliffe and his colleagues won an Ig Nobel Prize ...for their work on hanging black rhino upside down...

The anatomy of the rhino means it is, remarkably, able to breathe comfortably upside down, Radcliffe says. Hanging by their legs, the weight and build of rhinos allow them to extend their head and neck downwards, straightening the spine. Also, a "safer, smoother flight" occurs because the rhino horn acts as a "tail feather or wind vane," reducing the risk of spinning. "The great thing about lifting the rhinos upside down by their feet is that they're aerodynamic themselves," says Radcliffe...


Never would I have imagined a black thino being described as "aerodynamic" :eek:
 

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