Assam has seen a steady rise in the number of one-horned rhinos in Kaziranga national park with the total number standing at an impressive 2,413, which is an increase of 12 more from the last rhino census conducted in 2015.
There are 793 breeding females of the 2,413 rhinos in Kaziranga counted this year.
Kaziranga is home to about 70 percent of the one-horned rhino population in the world.
NK Vasu, the state principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) said that, on technical committee recommendation, the census-count will be repeated next year as all compartments could not be covered this time.
A total area of 882 sq km, including the Brahmaputra river zone which makes for the 6th Addition to Kaziranga, was divided into 74 compartments for the census count.
The rhino population in Assam saw a boom of 2,048 rhinos in 2009, an unimaginable increase of 193 rhinos in three years’ time. From 1,855 rhinos in 2006, the population had been briskly swelling up.
The Indian Rhino Vision 2020, an ambitious plan launched in 2005 to attain a wild population of at least 3,000 greater one-horned rhinos in Assam by the year 2020, has yielded good results.
International Rhino Foundation (IRF) has partnered with the Assam Forest Department, the Bodoland Territorial Council, the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to address the threats facing Indian rhinos.