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https://www.savetherhino.org/our_work/conservation_activities

http://animals.mom.me/being-done-stop-rhino-becoming-extinct-11707.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rhinoceros

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/19496/0

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/articles/heres-what-might-happen-local-ecosystems-if-all-rhinos-disappear-180949896/

https://fightforrhinos.com/2014/07/08/if-rhinos-go-extinct/

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I think it matters a lot whether or not the Indian Rhino becomes extinct. If it does it will have a huge impact on the biodiversity/habitat.

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Dehorning to Ward off Poachers
- Removing the rhino horn in a safe and humane manner prevents poachers from harming rhinos
-  The dehorning operation is performed by licensed veterinarians and physicians. For added protection, dehorning is combined with monitoring efforts to keep poachers away
- Rhino horns grow back at a rapid pace; the dehorning procedure is repeated every 12 to 24 months.

Providing Rhinos with Protected Conservation Areas

- Wild Rhinos are captured humanely and brought to a protected sanctuary
- Conservation areas provides a safe place for Rhinos to live safely
- Away from poachers

Preventing poaching
- Poaching prevention measures involve paramilitary training techniques, night vision helicopter surveillance, electronic tracking equipment and intelligence gathering
- Private reserve owners, conservations and the public are working together to sign petitions and accept donations that help to cover the millions of dollars it takes to provide rhinos with protection against poachers

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Rhinos are mega-herbivores, the lawn maintenance crew of the savanna. Their job to the ecosystem is to carve out paths for other creatures (eating), make water holes (digging), and to help germinate plants (defecating).

The reason that Rhino's specifically are so important to the ecosystem is because they're the only creatures that are big enough in this habitat to do it. Other mega-herbivores (elephants) affect different parts of the savanna as they eat from a different menu.

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The removal of megaherbivores from their ecosystems can have similarly devastating impacts. In a 2009 paper in the journal Science, paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill argued that the extinction of North American Pleistocene megaherbivores—mammoths, mastodons, horses, sloths, camels—drove similar large-scale ecosystem changes. The diversity and populations of plant communities were altered, which led to subsequent extinctions of other species.

Both measurements revealed more short grasses in high-density rhino areas compared with spaces that have only recently seen rhino activity. In the African grassland, short grass cover is a useful metric for botanical heterogeneity. The more short grass lawns, the more diverse the landscape.

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According to the University of Michigan, Department of Zoology, five species of rhinoceros inhabit the world. Three species inhabit Asia, while the other two species inhabit sub-Saharan Africa. Each of the species has evolved unique adaptations that enable them to thrive in their specific habitats. For example, the smaller species tend to inhabit forests, while the largest species – the Indian rhino of southern India and the white and black rhinos of Africa – inhabit open habitats.

The mouths of rhinos are adapted to the food they eat. For example, the white rhino is a grazing species that grabs large amounts of grass with each bite, so its mouth is broad. Conversely, black rhinos browse twigs and leaves, and eating such foods requires a more delicate approach. Accordingly, black rhinos have a narrow, beak-like mouth that they use to pick the edible portions from within the plant’s branches.

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The illegal demand for rhino horn in Oriental medicines and the deforestation of the Indian rhino's natural habitat for farmland are the main causes of its decline. Although rhino horn possesses no pharmacological properties, it is used illegally in Oriental medicine as an aphrodisiac and fever cure. Poachers can fetch as much as $30,000 for a processed kilogram of rhino horn. However, the decline of the Indian rhinoceros is only partially due to poaching for its horn. The development of its riparian habitat for crop cultivation is also responsible. Less and less natural habitat is available for the Indian rhino. As large territorial creatures, a vast area of land is required for survival.

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By 2014, the population in Assam increased to 2,544 rhinos, an increase by 27% since 2006, although more than 150 individuals were killed by poachers during these years. The population in Nepal increased by 111 individuals from 2011 to 2015, increasing by 21%.

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According to a recent study published by Scandinavian and South African researchers in the Journal of Ecology, rhino's maintain the diverse African grasslands on which countless other species depend.

The places where the fewest rhinos lived had around 60-80 percent less short grass cover than places where rhinos frequently were spotted. "Short grass" is a catch-all-metric commonly used to approximate plant diversity in grassy areas in Africa, referring to a number of edible species.

Based off these findings, authors think that the rhinos are probably playing a role in controlling the make-up of the park's grasslands. Rhinos - like other grazing species - selectively brows on certain grass species which leaves room for others that otherwise could not compete to move in and promotes diversity of edible plants.

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The Indian Rhinoceros is native to the Indian subcontinent. Their population is fragmented and restricted to less than 20,000 km2 (7,700 Sq miles)

The Indian rhino's former range extended from Pakistan to Burma, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Unfortunately, humans were responsible for decreasing its range and population.

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Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata
Class - Mammalia
Order - Perissodactyla
Family - Rhinocerotidae

Scientific name: Rhinoceros Unicornis

Species Authority: Linnaeus, 1758