map of Arunachal Pradesh.
Dihing Valley, Changlang District, Arunachal Pradesh, (part of present 1997 Namdapha National park).
Stray rhinos used to occur in the upper Dihing Valley in Changlang district. Specific identification could not be ascertained and there is a possibility of them being Dicerorhinus sumatrensis.
1995, last week of January, a lone rhino entered the Narayanpur area and travelled north up to Drupong Reserved Forest of Arunachal Pradesh. Probably from Kaziranga. It stayed in Drupong RF and adjacent areas of Torajuli for a week, mostly in the valley of the Pichola River. It fell to poachers near Narayanpur.
Drupong Reserved Forest, Papum Pare District, Arunachal Pradesh
Stray rhinos used to occur in southern Tirap. Specific identification could not be ascertained and there is a possibility of them being Dicerorhinus sumatrensis.
This 4 kmy plantation of the Soil Conservation Department in Sonitpur district has no resident rhino population. But due to its location, just north of Kaziranga, across the Brahmaputra, rhinos are seen frequently. In November-December 1989, one rhino stayed in the area for more than a month. In September 1990, two rhinos, which strayed up to the border of Arunachal Pradesh, were chased by Forest Department personnel to this area where they remained for a few days. In June-July 1995, one rhino was seen in the area and it moved into the Monabafi tea estate.
A rhinoceros was seen by local people in the Punikhal area of Sonai Reserved Forest of Cachar District, southern Assam. Probably also a Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, because until 1890 this species was once encountered infrequently in the Katakhal and Innerline Reserved Forests of Hailakandi and Cachar districts.
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.
