Weed Threatens Indian Rhino's Last Refuge
19.05.12
KAZIRANGA, India, Feb 18, 2012 (IPS) - While shoot-at-sight orders are now effectively keeping rhinoceros poachers at bay, an aggressive weed is threatening the one-horned ungulate in one of its last retreats - the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in eastern Assam state. Originally introduced in the tea gardens surrounding the KNP as a nitrogen-fixer, mimosa (Mimosa diplotricha) has spread through the 430 sq km park, edging out the tall grasses on which the rhino and other herbivorous wildlife feed.
"Unless this problem is solved, its going to destroy Kaziranga by smothering the grassland. Without the grasses how will these animals survive?" rued Chinmoy Dhar, a deputy ranger.
Mimosa adversely affects grasses and other native plant varieties by drawing on water and other mineral nutrients in the KNP that is rich in biodiversity with its wetlands and mix of tropical evergreen and moist deciduous forests, earning it the status of a UNESCO World Heritage
Source: Inter Press Service