The State of the Rhino

The second-largest rhino species behind the white rhinoceros, the Indian rhino is characteristically distinct for its single horn, and warty, overfolded skin on the hind quarters. Assam’s 70% of the population are found essentially all within one area, Kaziranga National Park. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kaziranga is just 331 square miles, one-tenth the size of Yellowstone.

Because of this, expansion of the Indian rhino population is still a priority, for if something like a devastating wildfire, or disease occurred within the park, suddenly almost three-fourths of the world’s population would be at risk.

To combat this, earlier this year plans were announced to increase Orang National Park — also in Assam, which holds around 125 rhinos, by about 120 square miles. With NGO partners, including IRF, the government of Assam also began translocation of rhinos within Kaziranga to give rhinos maximum room to breed.

In Nepal, Chitwan National Park recorded 694 individuals last year in an area around the same size and importance as Kaziranga. A larger park, Bardiya NP, underwent a translocation project in 1986, which originally saw success, but throughout the 2000s the park experienced precipitous declines in the rhino population from around 67 to 22. The declines are believed to be due to poaching, something difficult to track and stop as Bardiya is among the most remote and least-accessible protected areas in Nepal.

Other reserves and parks in India and Nepal that have rhino populations are small, and the expansion of the species has reached somewhat of a glass ceiling. However as the only Asian rhinoceros species that can be found in any substantial numbers, additional opportunities exist to restore populations of rhinos in Vietnam, a country that had its own subspecies, or various islands of Indonesia and Malaysia, which also used to be populated with rhino.

The Indian rhino is closely related to the Javan rhino, which could be the most-critically-endangered large mammal on Earth, and exists as 74 individuals in the northern tip of the island of Java, Indonesia. Again, the Indian rhino could help this population survive by introducing additional genetics if inbreeding becomes a threat, which it already is, as well as by acting as surrogates if necessary. WaL