Which Indian national park is known for protecting the one-horned rhinoceros?

Kaziranga National Park is the Indian national park known for protecting the one-horned rhinoceros. Located in Assam, it shelters the world’s largest population of the Indian rhinoceros, also called the greater one-horned rhinoceros.

The park’s conservation story began after Mary Curzon visited Assam in 1904 and failed to see a rhinoceros, despite the animal’s reputation in the region. Her concern helped lead to the creation of the Kaziranga Proposed Reserve Forest in 1905. It became a national park in 1974 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Kaziranga’s floodplain habitat, shaped by the Brahmaputra River, provides extensive grasslands and wetlands favored by rhinos. Seasonal flooding can be destructive, but it also renews the grasslands that support the ecosystem. The park is also important for Asian elephants, wild water buffalo, swamp deer, and Bengal tigers.

A common mix-up is confusing Kaziranga with Nepal’s Chitwan National Park or Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park, which are also famous for rhinoceros conservation but protect different species or populations.