DNA Database for Indian Rhino

Question: Which of the following national park has the largest number of Rhinos in India?
(a) Manas National Park
(b) Jim Corbett National Park
(c) Bandhavgarh National Park
(d) Kaziranga National Park
Answer: (d)
Related facts:

  • The Union Environment Ministry is working on a project to create DNA profiles of all rhinos in the country.
  • The deadline of project is 2021. When completed, the Indian rhino could be the first wild animal species in India to have all its members DNA-sequenced.

The Project:

  • The project’s proponents include the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) and the Centre-funded Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
  • This exercise would be useful in reduction of poaching as well as for gathering evidence in wildlife crimes involving rhinos.
  • India is a land having around 2600 rhinos all over and more than 90% of this population is concentrated in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park.
  • Outside Kaziranga, there are about 200 rhinos in West Bengal, 40 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 in Bihar.
  • The project would formally be under way in a year and 60 samples of tissue have been collected so far from some rhinos living outside Kaziranga.
  • DNA samples are also extracted from the dung. Once the entire project is completed, the database created will be hosted in the WII headquarters in Dehradun. The project is a subset of the Centre’s larger, ongoing rhino conservation programme.
  • The government has been trying to move a significant number of rhinos out of Kaziranga in the interest of the species’ conservation, threats from poaching and challenges to their habitat since 1980s.

Rhinoceros:

  • Rhinoceros, also known as rhino is herbivores animal belonging to the family of Rhinocerotidae.
  • There are three species of rhino i.e. black, white and Indian rhino.
  • Only the Indian rhino is found in the country. It has only one horn.
  • The rhinos were once abundant and well-distributed in the country. However poaching reduced its numbers to about 200 wild animals by the end of the 20th century.

Links:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dna-database-coming-up-for-indian-rhino/article27119499.ece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros