Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 16 : Four rhino calves, who were born a year ago, have been officially added to the rhino population the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR).
According to rules, rhino calves below the age of one year are not considered in the census as most of them do not survive. The count of one-horned rhino in Dudhwa has now reached 42.
“We are happy to include four rhino calves in the census and now we have 42 rhinos in Dudhwa. Monitoring teams are keeping a close eye on the rhinos. The calves are not included in the census because they have face threats in the form of weather, carnivores like leopards and tigers,” Manoj Sonkar, deputy director of DTR (core), told reporters.
The rhinos presently live in enclosures of over 20 square-kilometres in South Sonaripur range (phase 1) and Belariya range (phase 2) of the reserve.
“Since the rise in population of the rhinos in phase 1, the patrolling has been increased in the protected area. In 2019, two rhinos died due to infighting while a month-old calf was killed by a tiger in 2020,” the DFO said.
Rhinos was completely wiped out from Uttar Pradesh jungles. Then in 1984, five rhinos were re-introduced in Dudhwa from Assam. They were brought here under the Rhino Rehabilitation Project.
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