Only 3 Indian states have wild rhinos in the open, and UP just got 53

Uttar Pradesh remains one of only three states in India, along with Assam and West Bengal, to support a wild population of the greater one-horned rhinoceros. The latest census at Dudhwa Tiger Reserve counted 53 of them, according to the fourth rhino census conducted between June 25 and 27.

DTR Deputy Director Jagdish R. said the reserve’s rhino reintroduction programme began in 1984 with the translocation of seven founder rhinos from Assam and Nepal to the Kakraha area of the South Sonaripur range. ‘Their population has now grown more than seven-fold and coexists with tigers, elephants, leopards and sloth bears in Dudhwa,’ he said.

The census recorded 17 adult males, 25 adult females and 11 calves older than one year, a net increase of five rhinos despite three recent deaths from territorial conflicts and predation, according to DTR Field Director H. Rajamohan.

Of the 53 rhinos, six are housed in one rehabilitation enclosure, 36 in another, while 11 now roam freely in the wild, improving sighting opportunities for tourists in Dudhwa’s open safari zones.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/by Ankit Srivastava