How insects help find clues to rhino poachers?

Insects such as flies or beetles can provide clues that help investigators find and arrest illegal hunters.

In 1988, Australian police turned to Ian Dadour, an entomologist. Not because he had committed a crime, but because the police needed his expertise.

Investigators asked Dadour to estimate the age of maggots found on human bodies, which would help them assess when the victims were killed.

Insects can help investigators determine when an animal was killed (Photo: Getty).

Dadour went on to teach this and other entomology-based forensic methods to the South African Police Service.

Today, it has gradually become an effective investigative method, applied not only to catch murderers, but also poachers of rare animals.

According to Science, poachers in South Africa kill hundreds of rhinos every year, often for their horns. To combat this criminal group, local police have adopted Ian Dadour's method, calling it forensic entomology.

They collect adults, larvae, and eggs of carrion-eating insects such as flies and beetles from the carcasses. This process is not difficult, as carrion-eating insects are usually very quick to find and lay eggs on the carcass in less than an hour.

The eggs then hatch and develop at a predictable rate. Of the 119 insect species collected from rhinos, horseflies and beetles were the most common and useful.

By analyzing collected insect samples, forensic entomologists can estimate the time of death of a body, known as the minimum postmortem interval.

They then use this data to pinpoint and predict the movements of poachers, as well as allocate the resources needed to capture them.

"What's remarkable is that the methods we use on humans can be used in exactly the same way on animal cases, " said Amoret Whitaker, a forensic entomologist at the University of Winchester in the UK.

Similar methods are now being used to investigate and monitor endangered marsupials in Australia, and could even be applied in cases of animal cruelty.