the status and distribution of the greater one-horned rhino in nepal

10
THE STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE GREATER ONE HORNED RHINO IN NEPAL
All potenti al rhino habitats in Chitwan NP and the buff er zones were divided into a total of 16 blocks
(Figure 8).
Figure 8: Survey blocks – Chitwan Nati onal Park
3.3. Count operation
Where necessary, tall grasses were cut and burnt to improve visibility to observe animals. A maximum
of 45 elephants were used in Chitwan NP and 15 elephants in Bardia NP (Figure 9). Elephants were
lined up and moved parallel along transects marked on the map to sweep individual blocks. The
elephant line at places was over 5 km long in one conti nuous sweep (Figure 10). Experienced staff
were assigned to manage secti ons of the sweep to coordinate the operati on. Radio communicati on
was essenti al for this and to maintain distances between two elephants at approximately 50m in dense
forests and 100 - 200m in open grasslands (Figure 11). Maps of area to be covered on each census
day were produced and provided to each observer for navigati on purposes (Figure 12). The maps
in conjuncti on with the GPS
receivers were extremely
useful to ensure groups of
elephants didn’t break from
the census line parti cularly in
thick forests. Each elephant
carried 1 – 2 well trained
observers; over 80% of the
observers from DNPWC, NTNC,
WWF-Nepal and other local
conservati on organisati ons
had experience from previous
counts (Figure 13).
Figure 9: A large part of the census elephant team – Chitwan
Nati onal Park