Two Dutch companies have developed a sensor to track black rhinos in a bid to outwit poachers, the AD reports.

Monitoring is an important part of protecting black rhinos but some people believe current methods are not effective enough.

The new rhino tracker was developed by Utrecht-based company The Internet of Life and ShadowView, a company aiming to use technology to protect wildlife, the AD writes.

‘The attacks by poachers on African rhinos mean there are now only some five thousand of them left in the wild,’ The Internet of Life founder Tim van Dam told the paper. ‘Our device will be a new weapon in the fight against poachers.’

The sensor, which works on solar energy, is placed in the horn of the rhinoceros and transmits signals which tell park staff where the animal is and where it is headed. It sends hourly updates and works over great distances.

At present the animals are monitored using sensors giving off radio signals. ‘Those signals are not secure and anyone with a cheap receiver can pick them up. And that means they turn the animal into a target,’ the AD quotes Van Dam as saying.

So far, two rhinos in Tanzania have been fitted with the sensor and the World Wildlife Fund has given its backing to extending the project in the country.

Here’s a video made by ShadowView of how the sensor works.