While Nepal’s efforts to revive its rhinoceros population is hailed as a conservation success, habitat degradation is forcing translocated rhinos to wander far beyond their designated release zones, according to a new study, reports contributor Bibek Bhandari for Mongabay.
The population of the vulnerable greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in Nepal grew by 16.6% between 2015 and 2021, reaching a total of 752 individuals. To expand the range of rhinos, authorities also established new rhino populations in Bardiya and Shuklaphanta national parks. Bardiya, which had no surviving rhinos until the early 1980s, now has about 38 rhinos, according to the last census in 2021.
To see how the reintroduced rhinos use habitat in Bardiya, researchers attached GPS collars on five rhinos moved from Chitwan National Park to Bardiya in 2016-17. Their tracking showed that the rhinos maintain unusually large home ranges in the park’s Babai Valley. The study authors said that the behavior is likely due to fragmented riverine forests, limited grassland and seasonal water scarcity.
Study co-author Babu Ram Lamichhane, currently associated with the nonprofit Wild Care Nepal, said that massive floods in 2015 and 2017 inundated the Babai Valley, reducing the grassland patches and wallowing sites rhinos require for thermoregulation and skin maintenance.
Lamichhane said during the dry season, a lack of water in the Babai River forces rhinos to travel long distances, sometimes even crossing into India.
“The rhino habitat is not at an optimal level in Babai Valley,” Lamichhane said.
As rhinos seek resources outside the core park area, they are increasingly being sighted in community forests and farmlands, where locals said the animals are involved in sporadic incidents of human-wildlife conflict and destruction of crops.
Manju Mahatara, a wildlife guide with eight years of experience, said that rhinos were once easy to spot in the park’s core.
“Before, we used to spot six to seven rhinos within the core park area, but these days we hardly sight one,” she said. “Many rhinos were released in the Babai Valley, but it’s difficult to spot them these days.”
With new evidence of habitat degradation in Babai, Lamichanne recommended that authorities prioritize other areas such as the Karnali floodplain, adjacent to Baridya National Park, that may be a better alternative for establishing a viable population of more than 50 rhinos.
Rhino researcher Balram Awasthi said that while rhino reintroduction through relocation can be successful, continued habitat restoration and management will be critical to support a truly self-sustaining rhino population.
“Conservation success should not be measured only by population numbers, but also by the health and resilience of the habitats that support them,” Awasthi said.
Read the full story by Bibek Bhandari here.
Banner image: A greater one-horned rhino in Chitwan, Nepal. Image by Aditya Pal via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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