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Context
- World Rhino Day is celebrated on September 22 every year.
About
- It was first announced by WWF-South Africa in 2010. The following year, World Rhino Day grew into an international success, encompassing both African and Asian rhino species.
- This special day provides the opportunity for cause-related organizations, NGOs, zoos, and members of the public to celebrate rhinos in their own unique ways.
Image Courtesy: world rhino day.org
- It celebrates all five species of rhino: Black, white, greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan rhinos.
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- The theme of World Rhino Day 2021 is ‘Keep the Five Alive.
About Indian One-Horned Rhino
- The greater one-horned rhino (or “Indian rhino”) is the largest of the rhino species.
- The Great one-horned rhino is commonly found in Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and in Assam, India.
- Characteristics:
- The greater one-horned rhino is identified by a single black horn about 8-25 inches long and a grey-brown hide with skin folds, which gives it an armour-plated appearance.
- The species is solitary, except when adult males or rhinos nearing adulthood gather at wallows or to graze.
- They primarily graze, with a diet consisting almost entirely of grasses as well as leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruit, and aquatic plants.
- Conservation Status: Greater One-Horned Rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis): Vulnerable.
Conservation Efforts by India
- The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has launched a National Conservation Strategy for Indian One-Horned Rhino and the conservation initiatives for rhino has also enriched the grassland management which helps in reducing the negative impacts of climate change through carbon sequestration.
- New Delhi Declaration on Asian Rhinos 2019: Signed by India, Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia and Malaysia to conserve and protect the rhinos.
- Project to create DNA profiles of all rhinos by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
- Indian Rhino Vision 2020:It is a unique programme where the government partnered international, national and local organisations for the conservation of the rhinos.
- Under it, Manas has received a total of 22 rhinos from other protected areas.
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