Poaching: the UK soldiers helping to keep animals safe in Malawi

UK soldiers have been sent to Africa to help rangers protect their wildlife from being killed illegally for their horns and tusks.

It's part of a worldwide campaign to tackle what's called poaching - the killing of animals to sell their body parts around the world.

A team of 14 British soldiers are working with wildlife rangers in the Majete Wildlife Reserve in Malawi.

They are learning about protecting and tracking animals while helping to train the rangers how to monitor large areas of land and keep them secure, so the animals can live safely there.

The illegal wildlife trade is a big business, thought to be worth £17 billion a year worldwide.

Some of the animals most at risk are elephants and rhinos.

They are hunted for their tusks and their horns which are made into jewellery or ornaments, or sold as what some people believe is medicine.

An unlikely friendship between rhino and bird.

It's having a really big effect on the numbers of these animals living in the wild.

A recent count of Africa's elephants published in August 2016 found that nearly one in three disappeared over the previous seven years.

According to the charity African Parks, in the last 50 years global black rhino numbers have dropped from 70,000 to 5,500.

Everyone involved in keeping these animals safe is hoping that this partnership between the UK and Malawi can help change that.