Urban wildlife comes in many guises – and sizes. But could an animal as huge as a rhinoceros stroll the streets? Well, yes, and that animal is the Indian rhino.
The second-largest of five extant species of rhinoceros, the Indian rhino (also known as the greater one-horned rhino) is restricted to 12 protected areas in northern India and southern Nepal.
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Its population had been decimated by excessive hunting and the march of agricultural development, hitting an all-time low of just 100 individuals in Nepal by the early 1970s, mostly confined to the Chitwan Valley.
Thanks to the establishment of strict protection measures, Indian rhino numbers have grown, though poaching remains an issue.
The return of Nepal’s rhinos, from near-extinction to steady recovery, is one of south Asia’s notable conservation successes. Chitwan National Park was created in 1973 to protect the species, and numbers here have steadily risen to 700 or so today.
In the buffer zone that surrounds Chitwan, these armoured heavyweights have become increasingly comfortable around human habitation. Enigmatic and imposing, they make unlikely visitors to the towns and villages around the park, and can be seen lumbering down streets and shuffling past restaurants, bars and motorbike stands.
They have even been found snoozing on hotel lawns and grazing in people’s backyards. The buffer zone is home to some 300,000 inhabitants, and residents are curious but wary.
Some of the rhinos are effectively rescue animals that were nursed back to health within Chitwan but became habituated to people in the process. This development has created a problem.
Wild rhinos typically pass through populated areas on their way to feeding fields, but the tamer rescue animals tend to hang around – though they generally ignore people.
The most famous of these is Meghauli, who was rescued from a flood at two or three years old, when he was already the size of a horse. Following rehabilitation, the time came for Meghauli to wander back into the forest, but he didn’t want to go.
Instead, this Indian rhino became a townie, famously making the BBC News last July, filmed taking his regular afternoon stroll along a busy urban street.
Though the rhinos appear to be lumbering and docile, they can be extremely dangerous. Locals recognise individuals and generally know their temperaments, but recently, someone mistook a wild rhino for one of the adopted ones and was killed. Quite a few people have lost their lives since.
These incidents typically involve a sudden charge followed by a couple of tonnes of armoured flesh bearing down, but that is just part of it.
Rhinos also use their incisors, which can grow to around 7cm long. Until now, the domesticated rhinos have not killed anyone, but it would only take the pull of a tail or a tourist trying for a selfie for it to be game over.
Yet despite these dangers and the crop damage the rhinos can cause, most people living around Chitwan have a positive attitude towards the conservation efforts.
While most urban wildlife stories revolve around foxes, raccoons or the odd bold deer, the scale in Nepal is altogether different.
Here, coexistence involves giants, creatures that command attention, reshape landscapes and inspire wonder and caution in equal measure.
Top image: rhino taking a walk in the streets of Sauraha in Nepal. Credit: fotoember/Getty Images
