One-horned rhinoceros
Great One-Horned Rhino also known as Indian rhino, it is the largest of the rhino species.
It is identified by a single black horn and a grey-brown hide with skin folds.
They primarily graze, with a diet consisting almost entirely of grasses as well as leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruit, and aquatic plants.
The species is restricted to small habitats in Indo-Nepal terai and northern West Bengal and Assam
Assam has an estimated 2,640 rhinos in four protected areas, i.e. Pobitora Wildlife Reserve, Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, Kaziranga National Park, and Manas National Park.
About 2,400 of them are in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR).
IUCN Red List: Vulnerable.
CITES: Appendix I (Threatened with extinction and CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance for scientific research).
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I.
There are five species of rhino – white and black rhinos in Africa, and the greater one-horned, Javan and Sumatran rhino species in Asia
Only the Great One-Horned Rhino is found in India
Pobitora wildlife sanctuary
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the floodplains of River Brahmaputra in the district of Morigaon in the state of Assam.
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary has the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the world and second highest concentration in Assam after Kaziranga National Park.
It is often called ‘Mini Kaziranga’ due to similar landscape and vegetation.
About 72% of Pobitora Sanctuary consists of wet savannah of Arundo donax and Saccharum. The remaining area is covered by water bodies.
Water hyacinth (an invasive aquatic plant) is a major problem to the area especially to waterfowl, as it forms thick mats on the water surface.
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