GUWAHATI: A dry spell in India’s Assam state threatens a food crisis for rare one-horn rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park, officials said on Tuesday. “The impact of the near-drought in Assam will be felt in the winter season when most of the grazing animals in Kaziranga are surely going to face a food crisis,” the park’s warden, Utpal Bora, said.

The 430-square-kilometre park east of Assam’s principal city of Guwahati is home to some 1,855 one-horn rhinoceros, the world’s largest concentration. There are just 2,700 of the animals worldwide.

Wildlife rangers say scanty monsoon rains this year have stunted fresh plant growth in the park’s wet savannah grasslands.

In addition, without mild flooding to wash away weeds, the park’s streams have become clogged and dirty.—AFP