Rhinocerous

Rhinocerous

Subject – Environment

Context – Assam to destroy nearly 2,500 rhino horns; to preserve few as exhibits

Concept –

• The Assam cabinet decided to destroy over 2,000 rhino horns which have been preserved in government treasuries across the state during the past four decades.
• The horns, which were seized from poachers and traders of animal parts or recovered from dead rhinos in the state’s national parks and wildlife sanctuaries from 1979 till now, are stored in 12 district treasuries at present.
• Though there is no scientific basis, rhino horns are part of traditional medicine in some Asian countries such as China and Vietnam. Each horn, which is made up keratin (found in hair, nails), is valued over thousands of US dollars, leading to rampant killing of rhinos in Asia and Africa.
• Assam is home to the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinos. According to a 2018 census, there are nearly 2,650 rhinos in the state with around 2,400 of them concentrated in Kaziranga National Park.
• Rhinos are listed in Schedule 1 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as an endangered animal and there is an international ban on trade of rhino horns under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna).
• Three species of rhino—black, Javan, and Sumatran—are critically endangered.
• Today, a small population of Javan rhinos is found in only one national park on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Java.
• A mainland subspecies of the Javan rhino was declared extinct in Vietnam in 2011.
• Successful conservation efforts have led to an increase in the number of greater one-horned (or Indian) rhinos, from around 200 at the turn of the 20th century to around 3,700 today.

To know about Indian Rhino Vision 2020, please click here.

To know about Kaziranga National Park, please click here.