Greater One-Horned Rhino

The recovery is genuine and it is fragile at the same time. From perhaps two hundred animals at the start of the twentieth century, the population now stands at roughly four thousand — but well over half of them live in Kaziranga alone. A single epidemic, a single catastrophic flood year, a single sustained failure of protection, and the species loses a share of itself that no other site can replace.

The armour is an illusion of geometry rather than plate. The hide is thick, but the appearance of jointed panels comes from deep folds at the shoulder, flank and thigh that allow a rigid animal to move. Grass is cropped with a prehensile upper lip and, in deep water, the animal swims and grazes submerged vegetation without hesitation.