Indian Rhinoceros

The Indian Rhinoceros or the Great One-horned Rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis, is found in Nepal and in Assam, India. It is confined to the tall grasslands and forests in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Indian Rhinoceros is an excellent swimmer. It can also run up to a speed of 55 km/h for short times. It has excellent hearing and smell but poor eyesight.

This prehistoric looking rhinoceros has thick, silver-brown skin which creates huge folds all over its body. The upper legs and shoulders are covered in wart-like bumps and it has very little body hair. Fully grown males are larger than females in the wild, standing about 1.8 metres tall, weighing from 2000 - 3000 kg and reaching up to 3.6 metres long. In captivity, both males and females attain much larger weights (up to 3500kg). The Great One-Horned Rhinoceros has a single horn; this is present in both males and females, but not on newborn young. The horn, like human hair, is pure keratin and starts to show after about one year. It reaches a length of between 20 and 61 cm.

Males can breed at nine years of age and females reach sexual maturity at five years and have their first calves when between six and eight years. The female whistles when in season so that males know when she is ready to mate. The gestation period is about 16 months. A single calf is born at intervals of about three years. Mother rhinos are attentive and protective, the young staying with the mother for several years. Females and their young travel together but males usually travel alone and are territorial. Indian rhinos live up to age of 45 years.

Indian rhinos are poached for their horn, which some cultures in East Asia believe has healing and potency powers. Less than 2500 individuals remain in the wild, and the species is an endangered one.

The Indian rhinos have few natural enemies, except for tiger. Tigers sometimes kill unguarded calves, but adult rhinos are less vulnerable due to its huge size and dangerous weapons. However, there are recorded instances of tiger killing full-grown rhinos.

Major steps have been taken by the Indian and Nepalese governments with the help of World Wildlife Fund or WWF for their protection. The Kaziranga National Park and Manas National Park in Assam and Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal are the homes for the endangered animal.

Demographic trends of Rhinoceros unicornis. Sources : //www.animalinfo.org/species/artiperi/rhinunic.htm here.

ANNEE	TOTAL	INDE	NEPAL		1910	100				1952	350	300	50		1958	700	400	300		1963	600				1964	625	440	185		1966	740	575	165		1968	680				1971	630				1983	1.000				1984	1.500				1986	1.711	1.334	377		1987	1.700				1990	1.700				1994	1.900				1995	2.135	1.600	535		1997	2095				1998	2.100				2000	2.500				2002	2.500				2005	2.400

References

Listed as Endangered (EN B1+2cde v2.3)

External links

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References

External links