Rhino having a hot bath

In the wild, Indian rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) can be found in Assam, India and over the border into Nepal. They inhabit tall grass forests, but increasingly they have to use more cultivated land as man has encroached on their habitat. They mostly eat the tall grasses but will also eat leaves, shrubs, bark and fruits.

Male rhinos are solitary, with unstructured, overlapping territories. Female rhinos are also solitary except when they are with their calves.

In the past, Indian rhinos could be found across the entire northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Indian rhino populations declined drastically from 1600 – 1900 due to habitat destruction, sport hunting, and poaching. The species was on the brink of extinction at the beginning of the 20th century. Strict protection by the Indian and Nepalese wildlife authorities has helped these populations to recover from a total population low of 200 in the early 1900s to an estimated 2,575 in the wild in 2007.

Indian rhinos are still threatened by habitat quality loss due to severe invasion of alien plants and loss of wetlands and grasslands due to forest encroachment. Another severe threat is poaching, mainly for the use of the horn in traditional Chinese medicine.

Because of their population increases in recent years, the Indian rhinoceros is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as Vulnerable, meaning that it is considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

Breeding programme category: EEP
IUCN Red List category: Vulnerable