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Rhino ProtectionCin India
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By Abhinaw Singh

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 RHINOCEROS

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➢ Africa: Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros and Nile
Rhinoceros
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➢ Asia: Javan, Sumatran, Indian
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❖The Sumatran Rhinoceros C
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✓ Smallest and most endangered
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✓ Extinct in India
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❖The Javan Rhinoceros
✓ Extinct in India
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✓ Small number survive in Java and Vietnam
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 INDIAN RHINOCEROS
➢ The Great one-horned rhinoceros(Rhinoceros
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unicornis)
➢ Vulnerable -IUCN
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➢ CITES Appendix I
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➢ Schedule 1 of WPA 1972
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➢ Close to 85% of the total population occurs in India,

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with about 91% in the state of Assam
➢ Commonly found in Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and in
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➢ The Indian Rhinoceros can run at speeds of up to 25
mph (40 km/h) for short periods of time and is also

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an excellent swimmer
➢ It has excellent senses of hearing and smell, but
relatively poor eyesight
 Range Description Habitat & Ecology Major threat

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Range Description Habitat
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Northern part – India along Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra
basin includes Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh,
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PakistanRiverine grassland - Terai. Alluvial grass land -
swamps & forest

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Ecology Major threat
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Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, poaching for
horn-medicinal use in China and SE countries
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One Horned Rhino Distribution

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 HABITAT IN INDIA
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➢Found only in the tall grasslands and forests in
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the foothills of the Himalayas (Terai region)
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➢In India, rhinos are mainly found in Kaziranga
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NP, Pobitara WLS, Orang NP, Manas NP in
Assam, Jaldapara NP and Garumara NP in

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West Bengal and Dudhwa TR in Uttar Pradesh.

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 HABITAT IN ASSAM

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 HABITAT IN WB

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 HABITAT IN UP

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 DNA DATABASE FOR INDIAN RHINOS

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➢ MoEFCC- project to create DNA profiles of all
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rhinos in the country
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➢ By 2021(deadline) the Indian rhino could be the
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first wild animal species in India to have all its
members DNA-sequenced
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➢ The project will help in curbing poaching and
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gathering evidence in wildlife crimes involving
rhinos
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➢ The database will be hosted in the Wildlife
Institute of India (WII) headquarters in Dehradun
 NATIONAL RHINO CONSERVATION STRATEGY

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➢ Calls for active engagement between India and Nepal to
conserve the Greater one-horned rhinoceros
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➢ The plan said the single population of rhinos in Sukla-Phanta
(Nepal), Valmiki Tiger Reserve (India) and Chitwan National
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Park (Nepal) and Dudhwa (India) is separated by the political

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boundary between the two countries
➢ It asks for the management of the two population under the

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same protocol, instead of managing the two population
separately

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➢ The plan calls for expanding distribution range as the

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occurrence of 90% of the rhino in one protected area is a
cause of concern and conservation of existing and potential
rhino habitats need to be made a national priority
 INDIAN RHINO VISION
Launched in 2005
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➢Implemented by :
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❑Department of environment and forests, Assam,
❑The Bodo autonomous council as a active partner.
➢Supported by: o r
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❑WWF – India, WWF areas (Asian rhino and elephant action strategy)

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programme,
❑the international rhino foundation (IRF),

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❑ save the rhino’s campaign of zoological institutions worldwide
❑number of local NGOs likeUS Fish & Wildlife Service

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➢ VISION: To increase the total rhino foundation in Assam from about 2000 to
3000 by the year 2020

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➢To ensure that these rhinos are distributed over at least 7 protected areas (PA)
to provide long term viability of the one-horned rhino population

➢Assam has an estimated 2,645 rhinos in all (2018)

 TRANSLOCATIONS
species to risks of calamities (epidemics, floods, massive poaching attempts)
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➢Concentrating so many rhinos in a single protected area like Kaziranga exposes the

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➢Rhinos in Pabitora have exceeded carrying capacity and numbers must be reduced

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to protect the habitat and to mitigate the increasing rhino-human conflicts

➢ Activities: Anti-poaching, monitoring, translocations, community conservation

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➢ Translocations are the backbone of the IRV 2020 program

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➢GOAL: to translocate Rhinos from Kaziranga National Park and Pabitora Wildlife

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Sanctuary to five other protected areas namely Manas, Laokhowa, Buracharpori-
Kochmora, Dibrusaikhowa and Orang

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➢ According to World Wildlife fund data of 2012, Assam has 91% of total Rhino
population of India which is mainly concentrated in Kaziranga National Park, and a few

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in Pobitara Wildlife Sanctuary.
Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India, holds about 70% of the world population. IRV

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2020 aims

➢Manas National Park was selected as the first site for translocation of rhinos
 FACTS ON THREATS

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➢ The extent and quality of the rhino’s most important
habitat, alluvial grassland and riverine forest, is considered
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to be in decline due to human and livestock encroachment
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➢ The Indian rhinoceros once ranged throughout the entire
stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but excessive hunting

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and agricultural development reduced their range
drastically to 11 sites in northern India and southern Nepal

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➢ As a result of habitat destruction and climatic changes their

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range has gradually been reduced so that by the 19th
century, they only survived in the Terai grasslands of

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southern Nepal, northern Uttar Pradesh, northern Bihar,
northern Bengal, and in the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam
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 CURRENT AFFAIRS

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➢ Special Rhino Protection Force(SRPF) trained to combat poachers and
understand animal behaviour was deployed in the Kaziranga National Park

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➢ The force has been raised by the initiative of both the central and state
governments to control rhino poaching in tiger reserve

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➢ The process of setting up the special force was started in 2015 on the

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recommendations of the National Tiger Conservation Authority

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➢ The great one-horned rhino or Indian Rhino is the largest of the rhino
species found commonly in Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and India, with India
being home to 2,200 rhinos, or over 85% of the population

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➢ Rhinos in India are found in parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and

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Assam