Land of Rhinos

Kaziranga National Park

By Patanjali Somayaji

Kaziranga National Park, located in Assam, is home to two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses. It is also home to populations of elephants, swamp deer and wild buffalo, in addition to having the highest density of tigers in a protected area. However, the tall elephant grass, marshlands and dense forests that dominate Kaziranga make the big cat very difficult to spot.

ALONG THE BRAHMAPUTRA

Water is abundant and there are a lot of water bodies. Four rivers including the Brahmaputra make their way through the vast expanses of Kaziranga National Park.

The great one-horned Rhinoceros

Kaziranga is home to the largest population of the rhinoceros, an animal that was once found in larger numbers across the Indo-Gangetic plain. Hunting, human encroachment, and agriculture reduced their numbers to smaller groups and localised locations. Kaziranga, a great example of wildlife conservation, is estimated to be home to between 2500 to 3000 one-horned rhinos. Second in size only to the elephant among land based Asian mammals, fully grown adults weigh an average of 2200 Kg; larger specimens can weigh upto 4000 Kg.

A rhino cub follows its mother into the tall elephant grass

Rhinos, like other jungle dwellers, are highly territorial. At this waterhole, a rhino ponders over whether to take on the other adult. They eventually ambushed each other in the tall grass behind.

Wild ASIAtic WATER BUFFALO

The Asian water buffalo, native to Kaziranga and the surrounding region, is endangered, with less than 4000 left in the wild - most of them in Assam, India.