Scientists trace Kaziranga rhinos’ roots to ancient climate change

Guwahati, Jan 8: The Indian one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) migrated to the Northeastern part of India, from the country’s western and northern parts during the late Holocene period. Climatic amelioration and higher human activities in the western and northern parts of the subcontinent led to this migration of the megaherbivore fauna species to the Northeastern part of the subcontinent.

This is the observation made by a group of scientists, who studied the palaeoecological and palaeoherbivory history of the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) since the late Holocene, based on the biotic proxies. These scientists belong to Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow; School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, UK; Department of Earth Science, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, USA; Sikkim Himalayan Regional Centre of the Botanical Survey of India, and, Department of Geology, University of Lucknow.

It needs mention here that biotic proxies are indicators derived from living organisms or their preserved remains, while Late Holocene period refers to the most recent part of the current geological epoch, roughly the last few thousand years (for example, past 4,000-5,000 years) up to the present.

The study provides a deep-time ecological framework that can guide national and international conservation policies, invasive species management, and adaptive wildlife strategies under current and future climate change.

The findings of the study done by this team, that included Dr Sadhan Kumar Basumatary, Siddhant Vaish and Swati Tripathi of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Eline N van Asperen of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, H Gregory McDnald of the Department of Earth Science, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Dr Rajib Gogoi of the Sikkim Himalayan Regional Centre of the Botanical Survey of India and Ajay Kumar Arya of the Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, is published in the CATENA, a prestigious science journal published from the Netherlands.

According to Dr Basumatary, the study has brought out the long-term palaeoecological records of the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) for the first time. It has showed how climate change, vegetation shifts, exotic species invasion and herbivore pressure shaped its ecosystems over the past about 3,300 years. KNP, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is presently offering the one-horned rhinoceros one of its best natural habitats, besides becoming a living gallery of ecological interrelationship between plants and wildlife, he said.

Elaborating further, he said fossil evidence indicates that the Indian one-horned rhinoceros was once widely distributed across large parts of the Indian subcontinent, particularly along the Himalayan foothills, extending up to Northwestern India and even parts of present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan.