Weeds Drive Endangered Rhinos Onto Poachers’ Lands

Invasive plants are taking over the grazing grounds of an endangered South Asian rhinoceros, forcing the animals into poachers’ territory, experts said at a meeting of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group. The Great One-Horned Rhinoceros, which lives mainly in southwestern Nepal and the Indian state of Assam, eats native grasses. Thanks to anti-poaching efforts, its numbers have increased in the past decade. But now, exotic species of weeds and other plants are pushing the rhinos out of their natural habitat in search of food. Poachers value the rhinoceros for its horn, which is believed to be an aphrodisiac. The experts’ group met in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park, home to more than 400 Great One-Horned Rhinos — second only to India’s Kaziranga National Park, where 1,855 of the animals live.