 Reference Base  Demographic structure, activity patterns, habitat use and... |
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Kandel, R.C.; Jhala, Y.V., 2008. Demographic structure, activity patterns, habitat use and food habits of Rhinoceros unicornis in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 105 (1): 5-13, figs. 1-6, tabs. 1-3
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| Location: |
Asia - South Asia - Nepal |
| Subject: |
Ecology |
| Species: |
Indian Rhino |
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We studied the time activity budgets, habitat preference, food habits and population structure of the Greater One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis in Chitwan National Park, Nepal by monitoring eight different free
ranging rhinos from elephant back for 94.5 hrs (7-24 hours per rhino) and by an intensive survey of rhino habitats from elephant back and a four-wheel drive vehicle in early 2003. We classified 92 rhino sightings into seven age and gender groups. There was a calf for every 2.54 adult female rhino. We found that the adult sex ratio was equal, the proportion
of adult rhinos had increased and the calf:cow ratio had decreased compared with earlier studies. We found that rhinos spent most of their time resting (42.9% ±7 SE) and foraging (32.7% ±6.1 SE). There was a foraging peak in the morning and afternoon, and rhinos rested or wallowed during the noon hours. Rhinos were observed to use grasslands, riverine mixed forests and ecotones (grasslands interspersed with mixed forests) and were not observed to use Sal forests and
agricultural fields. They preferred to forage in grasslands (50.7% ± 9.9 SE) and ecotones (18.5% ±7.7 SE), preferring riverine mixed forests for resting (73.2% ±16 SE). Food habits of rhinos were estimated from 11,101 bite counts from seven rhinos (155 to 2,785 bites from each rhino) from different habitats. Bite counts were corrected for proportional
use of a habitat for foraging and for dry weight per bite, to compute the dry biomass contribution of a food plant to the rhino’s diet. Rhinos were observed to feed on 42 different plant species. However, only seven species contributed 85% of the dry biomass consumed by rhinos: these were Saccharum spontaneum (33%), Phragmites karka (16.7%),
Imperata cylindrica (16.2%), Saccharum bengalense (6%), Callicarpa macrophylla (5.1%), Neranga porphyrocoma (5%) and Hemarthrea compressa (4.8%).
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