Rhinoceros bearing seals of Harappan civilisation finely depict the folds on the skin with tubercles and the prominent horn. One-horned rhinoceros, primarily a grazer, weighing around 2 tonnes, features in many Indian paintings, motifs, coins, and even drawings of Mesolithic rock paintings. It is the emphasis on the protection that works for a species that faces bullets. For this very reason, along with highly active mongrels of Chinese Traditional Medicine craving to pounce on every piece of rhino horn, Kaziranga has scripted an enviable story. Consequently, the population loss in rhinos is more challenging to compensate in shorter times than in elephants.
![indian rhinoceros indian rhinoceros](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/2-indian-rhinoceros-litz-collection.jpg)
For elephants, in a social unit, aunts and cousins play a supportive role in raising the young ones, making it easier and quicker for the nursing mothers to mate and conceive. This is because the mother can only be ready and receptive for conception when the calf is reasonably secured and nearly independent. Their inter-caving period could be as long as five years. Unlike elephants, rhinos are often solitary. While establishing safe refuges for the rhinos helped secure their home, the Bengal Rhinoceros Protection Act of 1932 and the Assam Rhinoceros Protection Act of 1954 played a crucial role in protecting the animals. As a result, the rhino’s range contracted, and its numbers plummeted. The wars in Moghul’s medieval India and the shortsightedness of trigger-happy hunters in colonial India brought the one-horned rhinoceros to the brink of extinction. At the same time, its exquisite range from Peshawar to Burma has been reduced to few scattered pockets. Kaziranga holds the most extensive protected habitat of one-horned rhinoceros. The culture and sentiment of the people of Assam charter one of the most successful conservation histories on the face of the earth. Assam has chosen to send the message too and with determination as far as to China and Vietnam, the unceremonial regions of the rhino horn trade.Īssam is synonymous with rhino conservation. The flames of such massive burnings, though contentious, carry the messages of conservation - wide and far - and create long-lasting memories. The message to combat wildlife crime was loud and clear to the international community that had started with the first burning of such stockpiles in Kenya in 1989. It has included tusks from 8000 elephants and horns from more than 300 rhinos. World Rhino Day, an annual event celebrated on September 22, raises awareness for conserving all five rhino species Sumatran rhino, Indian rhino, Black rhino, Javan rhino, and White rhino.īurning the rhino horns to ashes brings the memories of Kenya’s most extensive burn of illegal wildlife products in 2016. In addition, after methodical examination of 2623 horns collected over many decades, 94 horns have been preserved as heritage pieces for academic purposes. On World Rhino Day, September 22, 2021, Assam has destroyed nearly 2479 horns of the Indian rhino in a public display of solidarity and commitment to protecting and conserving the species.