Defecation Behaviour of Great Indian One Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis,Linn.)

Amal Bhattacharya, Koushik Chakraborty

Abstract: Great Indian one horned rhinoceros, a large perissodactlyle herbivore, has a peculiar habit of sharing common latrines and thereby, making large dung heaps. This behaviour may have some scent marking relationships among the individuals. Almost 83 % initially deposited single defecations latter turned into dung heaps. Preferable locations of dunging areas were usually on or beside the well frequented rhino routes which were more than 86 % of all the dunging areas. Among the physical parameters the average size of the complete dung heap is nearly 3 meters and height attains 55 cm (approx. ). The span of formation of a complete dung hill is usually 55 days and takes on average 7 droppings. Interestingly, the number of dung balls decreases as the age increases. The estimated dry undigested parts are also less in calves measuring 11.6 % but adults were found to contain as high as 14.28 % as they are to take less nutritious coarse grasses. On the other hand moisture content is high in calves, almost 82 %. In both these cases the sub adults lie in between these two age classes.

Keywords: defecation, dung hill, dung pile, dung heap, midden, depositions, dunging area, rhino route