Greater one-horned rhino

  • The greater one-horned rhino, also called the Indian rhino is the largest of the rhino species.
  • Greater One-Horned Rhino is one among the five different species of Rhino. The other four are: Black Rhino, White Rhino, Javan Rhino, and Sumatran Rhino.
  • Scientific name: Rhinoceros unicorns.
  • Greater one-horned rhinos are usually solitary, except for females with small calves.
  • Gestation period of rhino this is between 15-16 months.
  • Greater one-horned rhinos live on average up to 30-45 years in the wild.

Conservation status

  • It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. 
  • It has been listed in CITES Appendix I since 1975.
  •  In Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I.

Habitat

  • The Greater one-horned rhino can be found in India and Nepal, particularly in the foothills of the Himalayas.
  • In India, great one horn rhinos are mainly found in Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
  • In the past, Greater one-horned rhinos roamed freely in the floodplains and forests alongside the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Indus River valley.
  • Nearly 85% of the global Indian rhinoceros population is concentrated in Assam, where Kaziranga National Park contains 70% of rhino population.

Threat

  • The biggest threat that Greater one-horned rhinos face is human harassment and encroachment. For centuries, rhinos have been hunted for sport and for their horn.
  • Habitat destruction and loss are further threats to the rhinoceros population.
  • Conflicts between humans and animals are inevitable, and consequently damaging to the Greater one-horned rhino population.

Conservation effort

  • The five rhino range nations, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia and Malaysia have signed a declaration ‘The New Delhi Declaration on Asian Rhinos 2019’ for the conservation and protection of the rhino.
  • The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has begun a project to create DNA profiles of all rhinos in the country. By 2021, the project’s deadline, the Indian rhino could be the first wild animal species in India to have all its members DNA-sequenced.
  • National Rhino Conservation Strategy: It was launched in 2019 to conserve the greater one-horned rhinoceros.
  • Indian Rhino Vision 2020 which is launched in 2005, was an ambitious effort to attain a wild population of at least 3,000 greater one-horned rhinos spread over seven protected areas in the Indian state of Assam by the year 2020.

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