Are rhino and elephant conservation efforts a success?

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• Kaziranga National Park – About, flora, fauna
• News Summary

 

Why in News?

• Greens worldwide called the Kaziranga National Park the greatest conservation success story in 2005 when it completed a century.
• Much of it is attributed to a rhino protection force that shoots alleged poachers at sight.
  • More than 55 armed men have been killed within the boundary of the 1,300 sq. km tiger reserve for unauthorized entry since 2012-13.

 

Kaziranga National Park

• H2: About Kaziranga National Park
  • The park is located in the edge of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspots – Golaghat and Nagaon district of Assam.
    • It became a protected area in 1905.
  • In the year 1985, the park was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
• H2: Flora of Kaziranga National Park
  • Due to the difference in altitude between the eastern and western areas of the park, mainly four types of vegetation are found in this park. These are:
    • Alluvial inundated grasslands,
    • Alluvial savanna woodlands,
    • Tropical moist mixed deciduous forests, and
    • Tropical semi-evergreen forests.
• H2: Fauna of Kaziranga National Park
  • The forest region of Kaziranga Park is home to world’s largest population of Indian Rhinoceros.
  • Other animals that can be seen in the elephant grass, marshland and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests of Kaziranga are Hoolock Gibbon, Tiger, Leopard, Indian Elephant, Sloth Bear, Wild water buffalo, swamp deer, etc.
  • With increase in tiger population every year, Kaziranga was declared as a Tiger Reserve in the year 2006.
  • Also, here one can find good number of migratory bird species from Central Asia.

 

News Summary

 

Rhino conservation

What is the Rhino population in Kaziranga National Park?

• The population of the one-horned rhino was about a dozen when Kaziranga became a protected area in 1905.
• According to the State of Rhino Report 2022, the poor-sighted herbivore’s number in Kaziranga is an estimated 2,613 (more than 65% of its total population of 4,014 across 11 habitats in India and Nepal).
• Focus on Rhino has made other animals in its domains a beneficiary.
  • Eg., the number of tigers has increased in Assam at a rate higher than elsewhere in India.
  • A 2010 count said Kaziranga has the highest density of tigers — 32.64 per 100 sq. km — in the world.

What are the threats to Rhino population?

• Poaching remains a major threat to rhinos because of the illegal wildlife trade in next-door Myanmar and beyond in Southeast Asia.
• Alien invasive plant species grabbing key grassland habitats in rhino-bearing areas in the past decade has also emerged as a bigger threat to the animal in India and Nepal.

What Anti-poaching measures for rhinos?

• The strengthening of the anti-poaching mechanism in India and Nepal with more manpower, capacity-building of frontline staff and equipping forest guards with better fighting gears have helped protect the rhino.
• The sentiments of local people attached to the rhino have also been a factor in the sharp drop in the number of rhinos killed, from 54 in 2013 and 2014 to one each in 2021 and 2022.

 

Elephants conservation

What is the status of Elephants in India?

• India is home to nearly 60% Asian elephants and the last count of the species in 2017 had put the number at 29,964.
• The elephant population is not evenly distributed in the country.
  • The south Indian States of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu are home to nearly 44% of India’s elephant population.
• While the number of elephants in India has increased in the past few years, the specie is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of threatened species and Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act.

What are the threats to elephants?

• The largest land-dwelling mammal is under continuous threat of poaching and conflict with humans.
• While incidents of poaching for ivory have come down, human-elephant conflict has been increasing.
  • On an average, about 500 humans and 100 elephants are killed every year across the country in such confrontations.
  • The change of land use, particularly bringing erstwhile forested areas under agriculture, has aggravated the conflict.
• Fragmentation of elephant habitats and construction of linear (railways and roads) and power infrastructure have led to many elephant deaths.

What are the steps taken to conserve elephants?

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched Project Elephant in 1992 to ensure the long-term survival of elephants in their natural habitats.
• The number of elephant reserves in India is 32 with the latest addition being the Agasthyamalai Elephant Reserve in 2022.
• Elephant corridors, linear narrow habitat linkages which allow elephants to move between secure habitats are crucial for conservation.
• So far, about 101 elephant corridors have been identified in the country which need to be secured for conservation of elephants.

 

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Q1) Why is elephant conservation important?

Elephants help maintain forest and savanna ecosystems for other species and are integrally tied to rich biodiversity. Elephants are important ecosystem engineers. They make pathways in dense forested habitat that allow passage for other animals.

 

Q2) Which river flows through Kaziranga National Park?

The Brahmaputra River flows by Kaziranga National Park in a braided course for about 53 km.

 

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