One Horned Rhino

Conservation through protected area system: an overview on Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) in Chitwan national park.

Basu dev poudel

Abstract

The greater one-horned rhinoceros is considered a flagship species of Nepal. Rhinos

are poached for their nasal horn .CNP is the hotspot for the biodiversity conservation

in Nepal. The park is home to second largest population of Greater One-horned

Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in the world, The population of greater one

horned rhinoceros is extremely affected by human activities such as encroachment,

cattle grazing, siltation and erosion, poaching and Many others factors such as spread

of invasive species (both land and water), climate change, habitat degradation,

pollution and many more.

CNP at present faces several complex challenges which need to be addressed

carefully for Rhinoceros conservation. Poaching, human-wildlife conflict, habitat

management, rescue and orphan management, sustainable eco-tourism,

translocation and corridor development have been identified as the major issues of

concern.

Introduction

Protected area are geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through

legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with

associated ecosystem services and cultural value (IUCN 2009).

Chitwan National Park designated in 1973, is the first protected area of the Nepal is

manage by DNPWC, Located in southern part of Central Nepal which spreads over

Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Parsa and Makawanpur districts covering 932 sq.km and its

buffer zone in 1996 an area of 750 sq. km surrounding the park. UNESCO declared

the park a world heritage site in 1984. CNP is one of the PAs in Terai Arc Landscape

(TAL) and chitwan Annapurna landscape (CHAL).

The altitude ranges from 110m-850m above sea level. The geographical location of

the National Park is between N 270 20' 19'' to 270 43' 16'' longitude and E 830 44'

50'' to 840 45' 03'' latitude whereas the geographical location of buffer zone is

between N 270 28' 23" and 270 70' 38" longitude and E 830 83' 98" and 840 77' 38''

latitude.

Fig1: chitwan national park

Biodiversity

The chitwan valley consist of tropical and sub-tropical forests with mostly sal

(shorea robusta) forest covering about 70-73% of parks. After sal forests, grasslands

cover (12%), riverine forests (7%), exposed surface (5%) and water body (3%).

There are more than 68 different types of grasses including the elephant grass

(Saccharum spp.), which grows to a height of 8 m (DNPWC 2015;.

In CNP, 16 land cover types: 4 types of Sal forest associations (lowland Sal, mixed

Sal, degraded Sal and hill Sal), 3 types of riverine forest which are consider as main

habitat for rhinoceros associations (Trewia-Bombax, Acacia- Dalbergia, and mixed

riverine), 2 types of short grassland associations (flood plain grassland and short

grassland), 3 types of tall grassland associations (swampy tall grass, tall grass and

wooded tall grass), 2 types wetlands (Rivers and lakes), exposed surface and the

cultivated lands (lehmkhul 1994;DNPWC 2015).

Chitwan National Park is home to almost 68 species of mammals, more than 576

species of birds, among the total species recorded in national parks, 49 species of

reptiles and amphibians, 120 species of fishes and several species of invertebrates.

(Stræde and T. Treue 2006; DNPWC 2015). The endangered fauna found in parks

includes the One horn Rhino, Royal Bangle Tiger, Gaur Bison ,wild Elephant ,four

horned antelope, pangolin ,golden monitor lizard, python, Gharial, Giant hornbill,

black stock, white stock, florican. The park is especially renowned for Greater Onehorned Rhinoceros, Royal Bengal Tiger and Gharial Crocodile (U.Bhattarai and J.

K. Lipton 2014; DNPWC 2015)

One horned Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis)

keto of rhinoceros

Scientific name: Rhinoceros Unicornis, Height: 5.75 - 6.5 feet

Weight: 4,000-6,000 pounds, Length: 10- 12.5 (IUCN 2011)

Rhinoceros, also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed

ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae (Thakur et al. 2014). The greater one-horned

rhino is identified by a single black horn about 8-25 inches, feet Skin is hairless and

slate grey, ashy when encrusted with mud, or black when wet. Large folds of skin

across the flanks and tubercles resembling plates of armor and also reported IUCN

RED LIST category Vulnerable B1ab(iii) ver 3.1 (IUCN 2011). Habitat consists of

tall floodplain grasslands and swampy areas, bordered by riverine woodlands

sometimes extending to drier Sal or Terminalia forests (Thapa et al.2009). Sexual

maturity is reached at approximately five to seven years in females produce a single

calf after a gestation period of approximately 16 months. In a healthy rapidly

breeding population, inter-calving intervals average two and a half to three years

(IUCN 2011).

The greater one-horned rhinoceros is considered a flagship species of Nepal. Rhinos

are poached for their nasal horn, which is highly valued in East Asia. In the 19th

century this rhinoceros was protected by the Rana ruler’s .Later, during 1905– 1939

many rhinoceroses were hunted by the British Royal Family. The valley was

protected as a private hunting reserve for the Rana rulers, until 1950 the Chitwan

valley in Nepal held an estimated 1,000 rhinoceros (DNPWC2015; Thapa et al.

2013).

Conservation was started with the authorization of National Parks and Wildlife

Conservation Act, 2029, in 1973 and Chitwan National Park was established in 1973

(2030-06-04 B.S.) as the first National Park of the country. In 1975, Nepal Army

joined the park with the responsibility of park security. This species occurs in three

locations: Chitwan National Park, Bardia National Park and Shukla

Phanta Wildlife Reserve with occasional movement into Parsa Wildlife Reserve

from adjoining areas of Chitwan.

Management practice

The goal of Chitwan National Park and Buffer Zone management is to protect

wildlife species through appropriate protection strategy and manage their habitat

applying science-based measures to maintain the world heritage value of the park

and mainstream the conservation for people’s well-being (DNPWC 2015)

Human-Wildlife Conflict

Human-wildlife conflict such as Human casualty, livestock depredation, house

destruction, crop raiding are the major hindering factors (U. Bhattarai and J. K.

Lipton 2014;).Wildlife Attacks were carried out predominantly by rhinoceros

Rhinoceros unicornis 38%), tigers Panthera tigris (21%), sloth bears Melursus

ursinus (18%), elephants Elephas maximus (9%) and wild boar Sus scrofa

(8%)(Silwal et al.2016).The park has set and implemented several attempts to

minimize the conflict. CNP is adopting the strategy of human-wildlife co-existence

rather than conflict.

 Relief scheme and buffer zone program (Silwal et al.2013; S. Stræde and T.

Treue 2006).

 Electric Fencing (Sapkota et al.2014)

2013 (source: S.2016

Habitat Management

Maintain mosaic of suitable habitat for rhinoceros in the park, management of

grasslands practice as habitat management intervention. The following practices

were carried out for the grassland habitat management: (DNPWC 2015)

 Grass cutting and burning in February-March every year.

 Cutting and uprooting of woody species and removing of invading trees from

the grasslands.

 Removing weed and other unwanted species (invasive) from grassland

(Thakur et al. 2014; DNPWC 2015).

Wetland Management

 Clean and remove weeds in wetlands

 Implement the activities prescribed in the site management plan of Beeshazari

and its associates Lake (Ramsar Site) (DNPWC 2015).

Anti-poaching and Intelligence Gathering

 Institutionalize district level Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) formed

at three districts, viz. Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Parsa (DNPWC 2015)

 Encourage and mobilize eco-clubs, students and local clubs against poaching

activities(Thapa et.al. 2013; DNPWC 2015)

Rescue and Orphanage Management

The injured and wounded animals are provided with treatment and released to

natural habitat (Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation 2015).

Population Monitoring

 Regular ID based monitoring of rhinos from respective posts(Ministry of

Forest and Soil Conservation 2015;THAPA et al.2013)

 Rhino count at every 4 years in the month of April

 Block monitoring every alternate year in high density (DNPWC 2015)

Fig5: Trend of the greater one-horned rhinoceros population in Nepal

(Source: Thapa et.al 2013)

Corridor development

The Terai Arc Landscape program for maintain habitat corridors for dispersal and

manage the Greater one-horned rhinoceros megafauna as Meta populations

(IUCN2011). Nepal has to maintain awareness and protection to prevent any

resurgence of poaching (H. Kafley et al.2015). Under the landscape conservation

paradigm successful protection includes engagement of community stewards.

Translocations

To reduce the threat of losing population to natural calamities, catastrophic events

and poaching, rhinos were translocated to the Bardia National Park (BNP) and the

Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR) (Thapa et. al. 2009; H. Kafley et al.2015)

which establish founder populations, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife

Conservation decided to establish founder populations by translocating animals from

the recovering Chitwan population in Bardia National Park and Suklaphanta

Wildlife Reserve in 1986 and 2000 respectively was strategically and biologically

sound (IUCN2009; Thapa et. al. 2009;Martin 2004).

Threats

The population of rhinoceros were vulnerable due to following

 Translocation, Hunting and poaching (Rothley et al.2004; IUCN 2009 ; Ministry

of Forest and Soil Conservation 2015;Martin2004).

 Extent of invasion by the plant Mikania micrantha across major habitats of CNP.

(S. T. Murphy et al. 2013; IUCN 2009; Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation

2015).

 Annual uncontrolled burning of the grasslands in the Park by local communities. (

IUCN 2009; Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation 2015).

 Siltation and weed invasion in water bodies (DNPWC 2015; Ministry of Forest

and Soil Conservation 2015)

 Unregulated and concentrated tourism (S. Nepal and A. Spiteri 2009;Martin2004)

 Traditional resource dependency of local people( B. Dhakal and B. Thapa 2015;

 Increasing human-wildlife conflict, Park-People Conflicts (B. Dhakal and B.

Thapa 2015; U.Bhattarai and J. K. Lipton 2014)

 Impact of climate change on biodiversity (Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation

2015).

 Human interference, including encroachment, cattle grazing, siltation and erosion

(IUCN 2009; S. Strædeand T. Treue 2006).

 Pollution in river habitat from various point and non-point sources

Conclusion

Nepal has achieved a significant progress in rhino poaching control as evidenced

‘zero poaching’ years 2014, 2015 and 2013 and only 1 rhino poached in 2012 also

celebrate as zero poaching 1000 days (published in different newspaper). This

scenario makes additional animals available for translocation from Chitwan and

might assure a viable population in Bardia if a well-managed translocation schedule

is maintained. There are significant increase in number of rhinoceros in present

scenario i.e.435 (2008), 534(2011), 645(2015) shown in fig5 rhino census.

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