The Indian rhinoceros is listed as a vulnerable species, the large mammal is primarily found in north-eastern India’s Assam and in protected areas in the Terai of Nepal, where populations are confined to the riverine grasslands in the foothills of the Himalayas
The Indian rhinoceros once ranged throughout the entire stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but excessive hunting reduced the natural habitat drastically. Today, more than 3,000 rhinos live in the wild. In 2014, 2,544 of which are found in India’sAssam alone, an increase by 27 percent since 2006, although in early 1900s, Assam had about 200 rhino only.
It is the fifth largest land animal.
The rhino’s single horn is present in both males and females, but not on newborn young. The black horn is pure keratin, like human fingernails, and starts to show after about six years.
ne-horned rhinos once ranged across the entire northern part of the Indian Subcontinent, along the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra River basins, from Pakistan to the Indian-Burmese border, including parts of Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. They may have also existed in Myanmar, southern China and Indochina.
They prefer the alluvial plain grasslands of the Terai and Brahmaputra basin. As a result of habitat destruction and climatic changes their range has gradually been reduced so that by the 19th century, they only survived in the Terai grasslands of southern Nepal, northern Uttar Pradesh, northern Bihar, northern Bengal, and in the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam.
Source: Wikipedia
