It is 12 up from 2015.
Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is now home to 2,413 one-horned rhinos, the parks's triennial population estimation has revealed, an increase of 12 from 2015. The two-day rhino counting exercise was concluded on Thursday at the UNESCO world heritage site that holds two-thirds of world's one-horned rhinoceros population.
According to data provided by the Assam forest department, there are a total of 1,435 adult rhinos with 642 males and 793 females; 471 sub-adults between the age of four to six years and 507 calves.
“We used total of 40 elephants and 17 sports utility vehicles to carry out the population estimation. The park area was divided into 74 forest compartments with 37 covered in each day", a senior forest official from the park said. Including the rhino population of Orang tiger reserve, Manas tiger reserve and Pobitora wildlife sanctuary, there are 2,624 one-horned rhinos in Assam while the countrywide number is 2,909 including rhinos found in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
Forest officials and independent activists said that the sighting of rhinos during this round of estimation was poor as the park's grasslands continue to be dense. This, they said, was due to the large-scale flooding of the park in 2017, which meant that the grasslands continue to have high-moisture content. In 2017, the floods had claimed lives of 361 animals, including 31 rhinos.
Over the years, the population of rhinos in Kaziranga has risen steadily. A decade back, it was 2048 and between 2012 and 2015, it saw a significant rise from 2290 to 2401. To break the back of poachers and their organised network, Assam government has deployed 875 armed personnel drawn from the Assam forest protection force , home guards and regular forest staff. The Assam forest department has provided 954 self-loading rifles, 272 INSAS rifles, 91 Ghatak assault rifles, 12 bore files and 133 9mm pistols to tackle poaching.
Between 2014 and late September 2017, 52 poachers were shot down, the environment ministry had informed Parliament while 124 rhinos were poached between 2013 and 2017.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Rhino")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}