GUWAHATI: The population of the precious one-horned rhinoceros has registered a marginal rise in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) of Assam, as per the latest census carried out on March 26 and 27 last.
A forest official informed that the census team spotted 2413 rhinos registering a marginal increase of only 12 rhinos compared to the figure of the last rhino census carried out in the park in the year 2015.
Out of the rhinos spotted, 642 are adult males and 793 are adult females while sex of 206 adult rhinos could not be determined during the census operation.
There are 115 male rhinos in the age group of 4-6 years and 149 females in the same age group. The sex of another 122 rhinos in the same group could not be determined.
The rhino abode which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has 230 rhinos aged one year while there are 155 calves under one year of age.
Presence of abundant elephant grass in the national park posed hurdles for the census team in spotting rhinos this year and another census will be carried out next year.
It may be mentioned that altogether74 rhinos were by poachers in Assam during 2015-17 and most of those were from Kaziranga National Park while 316 poachers were arrested during 2015-17. As many as 21 rhinos were killed in 2015, 22 in the year 2016 and nine in 2017, as per data provided in Assam Assembly by the state forest department.
