Kaziranga One-Horned Rhinoceros Assam Wetland

Kaziranga National Park in Golaghat and Nagaon districts of Assam, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, contains two-thirds of the world's one-horned rhinoceros population (Rhinoceros unicornis) in a landscape of tall elephant grass, swamp forest, and seasonal wetland on the south bank of the Brahmaputra river. The park's approximately 2,600 rhinoceros represent the most successful large mammal recovery in Asia, brought back from fewer than 200 individuals in the early twentieth century through strict protection, habitat management, and anti-poaching enforcement. Kaziranga also holds the world's highest density of Bengal tigers and large populations of wild water buffalo (arnab), swamp deer, and Indian elephants. The landscape is shaped by annual Brahmaputra floods that deposit silt, renew grassland, and temporarily drive animals onto the National Highway 37 corridor, creating both ecological function and human-wildlife conflict. The Mishing and Karbi communities adjacent to the park have traditional fishing and pastoral knowledge of the wetland margins. The vulnerability of Kaziranga's one-horned rhino population to poaching for horn in the illegal Asian wildlife trade, driven by demand in Vietnam and China, makes Kaziranga one of the most intensively protected conservation areas in India.