ASSAM: KAZIRANGA RHINO POPULATION INCREASES

Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is now home to 2,413 one-horned rhinos, the parks's triennial population estimation has revealed, an increase of 12 from 2015. The two-day rhino counting exercise was concluded on Thursday at the UNESCO world heritage site that holds two-thirds of world's one-horned rhinoceros population.

Among them, 642 are adult male rhinos, 793 adult female rhinos, 206 adult rhinos whose sex could not be determined, 116 are young adult male rhinos, 149 young female rhinos, 122 young adult rhinos whose sex were also could not be determined, 155 rhino calves below one year old and 230 rhino calves above one year.

The forest department used total of 40 elephants and 17 sports utility vehicles to carry out the population estimation. The park area was divided into 74 forest compartments with 37 covered in each day.

It may be mentioned that over the years, the population of rhinos in Kaziranga has risen steadily. A decade back, it was 2048 and between 2012 and 2015, it saw a significant rise from 2290 to 2401.

Speaking to INSIDENE, Somyadeep Dutta of Natures’ Beckon said that it is a good news that the Rhino population have increased but at the same time it is a matter of concern whether it could really be preserved.