Manas National Park in India’s Himalayan foothills was once home to some 100 Indian rhinos, almost all of which were wiped out by poaching by the late 1990s. After a campaign to reintroduce them, the population is growing and several calves have been born. But their recovery still needs active support, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India.
Researchers followed the fate of 42 greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) reintroduced to Manas in the state of Assam from 2006-2021. The rhinos arrived there in one of two ways: 22 wild rhinos were translocated from other protected areas in Assam, and 20 injured or orphaned rhinos were rescued and rehabilitated at a center, then released into Manas.
The rhino reintroduction program is showing hopeful signs, the decade-long study found. Between 2012 and 2022, the researchers recorded 35 rhino births in Manas: 19 calves from translocated females, and nine from rehabilitated individuals. First-generation rhino females, born in Manas, also birthed five calves; the mothers of two more calves remained unidentified.
“Breeding and calving are among the most important indicators that reintroduced rhinoceroses have adapted well to their new environment,” study lead author Deba Kumar Dutta, a wildlife biologist and member of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay India.
The study also found the two groups of rhinos settled in different parts of the national park. Translocated rhinos spread out over a larger area, often using remote or less-disturbed parts of the park, while rehabilitated rhinos were largely in central areas, giving birth close to antipoaching camps and zones with regular human presence.
“Rehabilitated rhinos are often human-imprinted and tend to remain close to human-inhabited areas within protected areas,” Dutta said. “At times they may even move towards nearby villages, mingling with cattle during the night and returning to the park in the morning. Translocated rhinos, captured from the wild and released into natural habitats, generally retain their natural behaviour.”
While the births of calves over the years is a hopeful sign, experts said the rhino population in Manas still needs continued management. Poaching, for example, led to the loss of some male rhinos in the early years of reintroduction, which disrupted breeding. Researchers also warn that the small, reintroduced population may face risk of inbreeding from a small genetic pool.
Yadvendradev Jhala, retired senior scientist and dean at the Wildlife Institute of India, said the rhinos of Manas should be managed as a metapopulation connected with those in nearby protected areas such as Kaziranga National Park and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, as well as other populations in the adjoining state of West Bengal.
Dutta said Manas’s grassland habitat also needs active management, including removal of invasive plants and maintenance of perennial water sources.
Read the full story by Sneha Mahale here.
Banner image: A rhino mother and calf in Manas National Park. Image courtesy of Deba Kumar Dutta.
Credits
