Staff Reporter
There has been an increase of 24 rhinos in Orang National Park with a total of 125 animals recorded in the two-day census held in Assam’s Orang National Park, a forest official said.
A total of 125 rhinos were recorded in the two-day census which concluded on Monday and this is 24 more than the previous estimation done in 2018, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Mangaldai Division Pradipta Baruah said.
Among the rhinos counted, 43 are male, 49 female and 23 calves while the sex status of the remaining 10 could not be ascertained, he said.
The Park was divided into 16 blocks and 16 elephants were used to carry three persons each, including a numerator, forest staff and a mahout.
Besides forest officials, members of rhino conservation organisations like Aaranyak and WWF and faculty members of a local college also participated in the census.
During the last census, 101 rhinos were recorded while no incident of poaching were reported from the Park during the last four years, Baruah added.
Once critically endangered, rhinos have been upgraded as vulnerable species by IUCN from 2009 and according to the 2018 census, Assam has 2652 animals with Kaziranga National Park having the highest population of 2413.
A three-day Rhino census will be conducted in Kaziranga National Park from March 26.
