The rift in the lute: Rhino habitat in the Kaziranga National Park, IndiaRubul Hazarika Department of Geography, Gauhati University Guwahati -781014, Assam, India rubulhazarika@gmail.com Dr. Anup Saikia Department of Geography, Gauhati University Guwahati -781014, Assam, India Introduction The Kaziranga National Park (KNP) lies in the heart of Assam, India along the southern banks of the Brahmaputra River. A World Heritage site since 1985, the KNP is home to the world’s largest population of Indian rhinos. Some 430 square kilometers, it is dotted with swamps and shrouded with tall thickets of elephant grass and provides an ideal habitat for the great one-horned Indian rhino. This study focuses on land use change in the KNP and the quantum of the Park’s land lost to erosion, particularly on its northern banks, on the basis of satellite data. Supervised classification and rule-based expert classifier are used to gauge land use change and assess habitat suitability respectively. An attempt is made to identify suitable habitats for rhinos in forest areas in the immediate vicinity of the KNP. Finally, ideal locations for the creation of animal crossings, such as bridges, in the Park are identified to prevent more animal casualties on the highway that slices through the KNP. The KNP Habitat The soils in the park represent both new alluvium and old alluvium formed by the alluvial deposits of the Brahmaputra River. The Brahamaputra River carries more discharge per unit area than any other river in the world and therefore the KNP like the rest of the Brahmaputra Valley, is annually replenished by alluvial deposits that support a diverse flora, including grass that the rhinos of the KNP subsist upon. The alluvial plains vary from 40 to 80 meters in elevation and are prone to inundation during floods. The park enjoys sub-tropical monsoonal climate characterized by heavy rainfall during summer. The annual average rainfall is in the order of 180 cm. Wetlands, which are locally called beels, represent the most common and integral features of the fluvial landscape of the Brahmaputra valley and some 191 wetlands dot the KNP. The vegetative cover of the park is characterized by woodland, short grass and tall grass. Grasslands predominate with tall 'elephant' grasses on the higher ground and short grasses on the lower ground surrounding the 'beels'. The revival of the Indian rhinos at the KNP is one of the most successful conservation stories in the world. From a population of a mere dozen in 1908, it has grown to 1500 after some 90 years. The rhino census conducted in Kaziranga in April 1999 recorded a population of 1552 compared with 1164 in 1993 (Kaziranga National Park, 2002). The estimated rhino population from 1966 to 1999 is depicted in Figure 1.  Figure 1: Rhino population in KNP (1966 to 1999) Source:
Although rhinos are found almost everywhere in the park they are found in greater numbers in particular parts of the park where their general habitat requirements are better. Habitat Modelling Many studies to date have used remote sensing and GIS for wildlife habitat analysis and their suitability evaluation. For habitat assessment of elk (Brian et al., 1997; Bright, 1984), reindeer (George et al., 1977) and kangaroo (Hill and Kelly, 1987) remote sensing and GIS technologies were used extensively. Rees et al. (2002) used Landsat and ETM+ imagery for mapping of land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic. Mongkolsawat and Thirangoon (1998) used satellite imagery and GIS to evaluate wildlife habitat suitability mapping, mainly for Asian elephants in Thailand. Similar studies have been carried out by Foley (2002), Wiersema (1998), Zhix et al. (1995) and Polce (2004). Pertaining to the Indian context the works of Roy et al. (1995), Porwal et al. (1996) and Kushwaha et al. (2000 and 2004) and Raut et al. (2000) are noteworthy.
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