It
was very exciting moment three years back when first reintroduced rhino under
the program of Indian Rhino Vision-2020 gave birth to the first calf at
Bhuyanpara range of Manas National Park on 26th September,2012. The Rhino-10 was translocated from Pobitora
Wild Life Sanctuary of Assam on 8th January 2011. She was named as Udangshri (free minded) by
Barmazora H.S. School on 8/9/2012.
After
released at Manas she liked to use area at Bhuyanpara range of Manas NP with
close association with another translocated
male rhino Rhino-5. Since September 2012, she mostly used the
inaccessible and interior areas of Chengmarijhar and the monitoring team had a
tough time to keep an eye on her and had to put more effort to locate her on a
regular basis. On 26th September 2012 a special search operation was
undertaken to locate her. The search was undertaken by two teams each
consisting of six persons on three elephants and equipped with telemetry
receiver antennae, GPS and camera. Both the teams were given the responsibility
to scan two different probable areas and the one team started from Bhuyanpara
range office and the second one from Betbari camp.
It
was raining very heavily and as a result, the search operation could be started
onely around 12.00 pm, which was pretty late.
The probable location of the rhinos was plotted on a map using the
triangulation technique and the rhino was estimated to be at a distance of
about 4km from the Bhuyanpara RO and
about 3.5 km from the Betbari camp. One
team moved in a north-east direction and the other in a north-west direction
with the plan to meet in a particular landmark point.
The
first team moved 1 km east from the Bhuyanpara range office and then had to
cross the Digjhari river that was full of flood water flowing at a high
velocity And even the elephants were
reluctant to cross the flooded river at
first. But with a lot of effort the team was able to cross and continued to
move as planned towards the target.
Simultaneously,
the other team also took a lot of efforts to reach the destination as planned
and both the teams met around 3pm. It
was raining heavily and the team took a brief rest and started the search a bit encouraged as fresh foot prints could be located to be
followed . Dhanonjoy Daimary and Bimal Basumatary then tried to locate the rhino
from a tall tree as they could make out from the strong radio signals that the Rhino-10 might be in close vicinity. After a
few minutes of cautious scan and observation, they noticed Rhino10 to be
standing just at a distance of about 100m
from the tree . In addition to
confirming the presence of the Rhino-10, they were very excited and confused to
observe a small creature in between her forelegs. They assumed it might be a
baby rhino but could not confirm it from that distance through the vegetation.
After a patient wait, as the rhinos moved from the location, they went to
survey with care and could notice a small foot mark along with adult female
that called for further observation and confirmation. Rainfall intensified and
the evening brought in the darkness As
such the search operation for the day was called off to re-start it the next
morning.
We
returned back and reached our WWF field camp at Basbari around 8-45pm that day
and discussed the findings with senior officials of the park and made necessary
plans for the next day’s search.
Next
day morning we set out on mission confirmation from our Basbari camp at 3-00am
accompanied by Mr. Dharanidhar Boro ACF Manas Tiger Reserve, Dr. Prabhat
Basumatary FVO Manas Tiger Reserve. We
were a 12 member team that proceed towards Chengmarijhar on elephant back
following the radio signal to look the first step of Rhino New Born . The
morning was sunny and bright and we reached the site where the rhino was
observed the day before in the Chengmarijhar area around 6-30am. We inspected
the location for the footprints it could be confirmed that Rhino10 was
accompanied by a baby rhino. This gave the good news that a translocated rhino
have given birth to a baby to add to the existing population. After examination
it could be seen that the mother gave birth to the new born
under a shrub adjacent to a heap
of rhino dung. The place of birth place is circular with a circumference of
about 3mts. filled with mud and water
with a depth of about 1mt. At birth the
rhino calf’s footprint was measured to be about 12.2cm in circumference on that
muddy surface. There were five more similar small wallowing pits in close
vicinity and the rhinos used all of these wallowing pits. The area was hardly
visible and accessible and probably that was why the Rhino10 selected that area
for giving birth to the baby. After the initial confirmation efforts were
undertaken to observe the rhinos by following the fresh foot marks. After
searching for about fifteen minutes we located the mother and the calf inside
dense grassland the mother was observed to be very protective and always kept
the newborn within her forelegs. This was a great moment for the entire team
and we congratulated each other for the good news.
This
ushered a new ray of hope in the process of revival of Manas NP and
conservation of the Greater One Horned Rhino under the program Indian Rhino
Vision (IRV) 2020. This is a great motivation for all involved in the
conservation efforts of the Manas NP and an indicator to the fact that the
rhinos that were translocated with great care have adapted well in the new
habitat.
Unfortunately,
poachers killed the mother rhino after one year 33 days (29/10/2013.) from the day of calf born.
After killing of his mother, calf was wandering all the areas where he moved
with his mother. But after two week of killing his mother another male
Rhino-5 have been providing company to it in dense jungle. Now the calf is about three feet tall with
good health. We wish safe and secure future for this calf and entire rhino population
of Manas National Park on the occasion of date of birth of first reintroduced
calf at Manas NP.
Rhino Calf with his mother
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