Once nearing extinction, the number of greater one-horned rhinoceroses in India is rising – thanks to anti-poaching efforts and mud platforms that keep the massive animals safe from monsoon flooding. Ninety percent of the one-horned rhinos that exist live in India’s Kaziranga National Park, where a census was taken in March. That census showed the population has grown in the past four years!
“From the last count in 2018, the number of the rare one-horned rhinoceros at our park has risen by 200. The number of this species at the Kaziranga now stands at 2,613,” park Director Jatindra Sarma told The Associated Press (AP). That’s a very encouraging 12% increase, a sure sign that conservation efforts are working.
The species was nearly wiped out by poaching and loss of habitat before conservation efforts started, according to the World Wildlife Fund. However, another park official said only one rhino was killed in the park by poachers this year. Unfortunately, rhinos’ horns are prized in underground markets in some parts of Asia, where they are still considered (albeit an antiquated) traditional kind of medicine despite their trade being banned.
Monsoon flooding is also a threat to the rhinos and other species in Kaziranga, which is spread across the floodplains of the Brahmaputra River in northeast India’s Assam state. High platforms have been built for rhinos to escape the floodwaters, and to prevent death and injury to the animals, the speed limit is strictly enforced by forest and district administration officials and a penalty is imposed for any violation.
Still, over the last several years, 70 percent of the world-famous national park spanning Golaghat, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Biswanath and Karbi Anglong districts was inundated during monsoon season, and in flooding of September, 2021 alone, 24 rare species lost their lives in the floodwaters.
For the recent count, 400 workers used drones and took to the backs of domesticated elephants to scan the parks’ 190 square miles. Kaziranga is a UNESCO heritage site that’s also home to elephants, wild water buffalo, swamp deer and tigers.
What is a Monsoon?
According to the Save the Rhino website, in the Indian sub-continent, summer starts with baking hot weather. The sun beats down on the land, heating it up quickly. The air above heats up and rises, creating a deep area of low pressure. This drags in cool air, laden with moisture, from the Indian Ocean like a vacuum. Monsoon winds are followed by biblical downpours, and the vacuum effect is so strong that the rains start in the southwest of India and spread across to the northeast of the country, more than 1,500 miles away.
Here, the monsoon reaches Assam. With the Himalayas rising to the north, the monsoon slows down as the mountains force it upwards, meaning that Assam and the rest of the northeast receive the most rain.
Kaziranga National Park, home to the largest population of Greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) in the world, sits on the southern banks of the mighty Brahmaputra River, which runs through Assam. In mid-July, a month after the first rains fell in Assam this year, the river burst its banks, inundating land on either side of its vast width. At the flood’s peak, as much as 95% of Kaziranga was underwater (up to a depth of 4.5 m), causing massive disturbance to the wildlife that calls the park home.
However, the site points out that while the flood sounds disastrous for people and wildlife alike, this annual phenomenon plays an important role in maintaining the balance of the local ecosystem. And, 72 animals have been rescued from the floodwaters, including five rhinos. They have received expert care, and many have already been released, giving them a second chance to thrive in the Park.
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Photo Credit: Diganta Talukdar / Shutterstock.com