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Indian Rhinoceros
The great one-horned rhino — an armour-plated giant of the northeast's floodplains, and one of conservation's real success stories.
How to spot it
A massive grey rhino whose thick, folded skin looks like riveted armour plating. It carries a single black horn and, unlike African rhinos, has sharp lower teeth it uses to fight. A big male can top two tonnes.
Where it lives
The tall grasslands and swamps of the Brahmaputra floodplain — above all Kaziranga in Assam, which holds most of the world's population — plus other reserves in Assam, West Bengal and neighbouring Nepal.
What it eats
A grazer and browser that eats grasses, leaves, fruit and water plants, feeding mainly in the cool of morning and evening. It loves water and spends the hot hours wallowing in mud and pools to stay cool and free of parasites.
Behaviour & life
Largely solitary apart from mothers with calves, though they gather at wallows and grazing lawns. Their eyesight is poor but hearing and smell are keen, and they can charge surprisingly fast when alarmed.
In India
Once down to a few dozen animals, strict protection at Kaziranga has brought numbers back to several thousand — a genuine success. Still classed as Vulnerable and protected under Schedule I, its horn keeps it a constant poaching target.
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