Greater One-Horned Rhino:
A case of poaching of the world-famous one-horned rhino has been suspected inside the Kaziranga National Park in Assam.
- There are five species of rhino – white and black rhinos in Africa, and the greater one-horned, Javan and Sumatran rhino species in Asia.
IUCN Red List Status:
- Black Rhino: Critically endangered. Smaller of the two African species.
- White Rhino: Near Threatened. Researchers have created an embryo of the northern white rhino by using In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) process.
- One-Horned Rhino: Vulnerable
- Javan: Critically Endangered
- Sumatran Rhino: Critically Endangered. It has gone extinct in Malaysia.
- Only the Great One-Horned Rhino is found in India.
- Also known as Indian rhino, it is the largest of the rhino species.
- It is identified by a single black horn and a grey-brown hide with skin folds.
- They primarily graze, with a diet consisting almost entirely of grasses as well as leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruit, and aquatic plants.
- The species is restricted to small habitats in Indo-Nepal terai and northern West Bengal and Assam.
- In India, rhinos are mainly found in Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
- Assam has an estimated 2,640 rhinos in four protected areas, i.e. Pabitora Wildlife Reserve, Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, Kaziranga National Park, and Manas National Park.
- About 2,400 of them are in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR).
Protection Status:
- IUCN Red List: Vulnerable.
- CITES: Appendix I (Threatened with extinction and CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance for scientific research).
- Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I.
