60
185
400
8
11
1980, 75
1972, 670
1908, few dozen
1908, few dozen
73
160
Nestled at the foot of the Arunachal himalayas, area of 195 kmy.
1964, 40-60
67, density of 4.2 animal/ kmy.
1975, 23
1981, 20
Kurva, a small pocket near Gauhati, has a small rhino population. Mandakata, another very small pocket just to the west of Kurba, also has a few resident rhinos. As these sites are very small and surrounded by human habitations, oftne villagers are injured by rhino.
Kuruwa-Mandakata, Darrang Dt, Assam.
In the past, stray sightings of rhinos from North Bengal to Rangpur and Dinajpur districts of Bangladesh were not uncommon, but no authentic record is available at hand. Formerly rhino also existed in Sylhet district.
1983 Jan-May, as many as 31 rhinos were killed by poachers.
Area of 2840 kmy, stretching from Sankosh River in the west to the Dhansiri River in the east.
1978, 960
1984, 1195
400
1964, 10-15 in core, 2-3 in western end, cf. Gee 1964.
35
On April 1, 1984, five rhinos landed in Dudhwa National Park of U.P., thus becoming the first rhinos to be translocated in India. The translocation was mooted under the National Wildlife Action Plan (which gives priority to the reintroduction of endangered and threatened species). A number of places were selected for translocating rhinos from Assam. Dudhwa National Park in U.P., Champaran forest in Bihar, Jaldapara and Gorumara Wildlife Sanctuaries in West Bengal, Lah Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh and Intanki Wildlife Sanctuary in Nagaland.
Just to the west of Kaziranga lies Kukrakata Hill, a small hilly reserved forest which has a resident rhino population of about two dozen animals. During the high floods another dozen or so rhinos also move over from the main park.
Reasons for present spree of poaching: lack of sufficient patrol elephants and boats, the negligence of some forest officials, the occasional issue of fishing permits by the civil authorities inside the park (some of the 'fishermen' are poachers in disguise) and the lack of adequate buffer zone around the reserves. In the last week of May 1984, 42 people were arrested in Kaziranga on charges of poaching, including one policeman, and two forest guards were also arrested in the early part of 1984.
Rhinoceros unicornis ranged ... to Myitkina (Burma) in the east. It might also have existed in Upper Burma as it was recorded at Bumpha Bum in Myitkina district in 1962.
Rhinoceros unicornis - sightings of rhino are often reported from Bhutan - these are actullay the animals that frequently cross over the international border in areas where the habitat is still contiguous. In Bhutan, rhinos are frequently seen in the Manas Tiger Reserve, which is contiguous with the indian tiger reserve of Manas. The rhinos are mostly seen in the narrow plain along both sides of the Manas River, as the other areas are mostly hilly, part of the Himalayan foothills.
Situated in the Terai belt, the park covers an area of about 613 kmy. At least 14 favourite plants (including grasses) of rhino are located in Dudhwa.
1980, 22
Four railway stations are located within this tiny sanctuary.
Panpur reserved Forest (6.1 kmy) situated on the north side of the Brahmaputra, is regularly visited by rhinos from Kaziranga.
Poached in 1981, 25
Footprints of rhinos have been observed in the upper dehing valley, near Namdapha Tiger Reserve, in Tirap District. Gee (1964) also reported that in the southern part of Tirap dt. A few isolated rhinos have sometimes been encountered.
Size 116 kmy
The jungle and grass in Jaldapara are thicker than in Kaziranga. Though it is regarded as a good rhino habitat, the population shows a declining trend and the possibility of inbreeding has become greater.
1940, Became a wildlife sanctuary.
1926, Became a Game Sanctuary
1972, declared a national park.
The Moslem traveller Al-Biruni (c.1030) mentioned rhino in accountof western and northern India.
The Indus valley (Pakistan) was once the home of the one-horned rhino about 5,000 years ago, during the Mohenjo Daro era.
Rhinoceros unicornis was ranged throughout northern India from peshawar in the west to Myitkina (Burma) in the east.
Emperor Jehangir's memoirs mention the occurrence of rhino near Aligarh.
Laokhowa Sanctuary, area 70 kmy
Distance of about 30 km west of Gauhati, area of 16 kmy.
Emperor Akbar, whose memoirs were written in 1590, reported the presence of rhino in the Moradabad district (Sambhal area).
Small groups of rhino inhabit the Rangali (near Sonari) and Desangmukh (38 kmy) reserved forets in Sibsagar District.
Situated between the mighty river Brahmaputra and the Karbi Plateau (formerly Mirkir hills), the park covers 430 kmy.
The local authorities put the blame on the comparatively large tiger population in Jaldapara and partly on poachers. Naturalists place the responsibility on inadequate proitection by forest officials. Large-scale encroachments have been made into the sanctuary, in addition to 'army pockets'. The Govt of W Bengal has already asked the army authorities to move out of the main sanctuary.
rhino inhabited areas in India and in Bengal-Assam.
Burhachapari Reserved Forest, 44.1 kmy near Laokhowa, has a few rhino.
The main threat to the existence of the Indian rhino is poaching for its valuable horn, although habitat destruction is also a great threat. Even in the smaller sanctuaries of north Bengal, 5 rhinos were killed by poachers between 1980-82, and another 3 within the first 5 months of 1983. In the famous Kaziranga, 25 rhinos were killed in 1981. In the whole of Assam state, as many as 91 rhinos were killed in 1983, of which Laokhowa alone accounted for 31. In the first 6 months of 1984, another 26 rhinos fell into the hands of poachers.
Situated on the north bank of the Brahmaputra towards the SE of Manas and has an area of 65 kmy.
Nagaland is also a hilly area and does not have any good rhino habitat. Sometimes stray individuals have been sighted in border zones near Sonari (Rangali reserved forest) in Assam, where a small population is believed to exist.
Outside the Brahmaputra valley, rhinos are often seen on the northern slopes of the east Karbi Plateau which is adjacent to Kaziranga.
The last recorded rhino shot within U.P. territory ws in 1878 near Pilhibit [sic].
In 1978, a female with a calf were seen in Soni-Rupai sanctuary (not a notified protected area) by the forest staff. The location was not far from the border of West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
In the days of Mughal Emperor Babur (1505-1530) the rhino existed in most parts of Gangetic Uttar Pradesh.
The Moslem traveller Ibn Battuta (c.1334) mentioned rhino in accountof western and northern India.
1984, On April 1, 1984, five rhinos landed in Dudhwa National Park of U.P., thus becoming the first rhinos to be translocated in India. Of the first five rhinos that were sent, four were captured from the fields outside the Pabitara Wildlife Sanctuary and one from Goalpara. Of the five rhinos set free in Dudhwa, two have already succumbed to injuries incurred during capture and transporting.
The only record of rhino from Meghalaya is one dead specimen recorded in the Northern Jaintia Hills a few years ago.
The park covers an area of 313.7 km? and is situated near Bahawalpur.
The first such translocated animals (a pair) were sent from the Nepal terai to Lal Sohanra National Park on March 23, 1982.
The park encompasses an area of about 1300 km? of which only 20% is ideal rhino habitat..
Rhinoceros unicornis ranged to Myitkina (Burma) in the east.
With map of this trek. On January 23, 1984 the author saw a female rhino near Nagarbera village (about 100 km. west of Gauhati). This rhino is believed to have left Pabitara Wildlife Sanctuary towards the end of December 1983 along with a male. Subsequently the male was killed and the female wounded by a poacher. On January 2, 1984, the female suddenly appeared in a village called Bahpara near Nalbari, about 70 km northwest of Pabitara. From Balipara the forest department personnel followed its movements as it travelled in a south-westerly direction and crossed the Brahmaputra river to reach Sontali village (January 11), and then moved further south and west until it reached Mandira, a grazing reserve on January 14. On January 17 it appeared in Pijupara village, near Nagarbera. It stayed for several days in Pijupara and then moved west up to Goalpara, where it was ultimately captured in mid-March 1984 and flown to Dudhwa National Park under a translocation programme. During its long trek the forest department personnel tried to drive the animal towards Kurva or Pabitara, but in vain. All along its route to Goalpara, the rhino was troubled by villagers, which ultimately led to the deaths of 3 persons, besides injuring a few others. This is a fine study of rhino movement as most of its trek was monitored. The animal travelled for about 3 months, in the course of which it nearly 200 kms. Had it not been captured for Dudhwa, more new facts on the movement of rhino could have been learned.
