Lohit the Hornless Killer Rhino at Lucknow Zoo
Lohit, this male rhino filmed at the Lucknow Zoo had lost its horn and was, for safety reasons, brought from the Dudhwa National Park, Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh, India to the Lucknow Zoo. He died at the age of 34 years due to cardiac arrest and senility in 2018 at Lucknow. The average age of rhinos is 35 years.
Lohit never had a partner and was an aggressive male which had made it very lonely. He had notoriously fatally injured his veterinarian, killing the man on the spot in 1995. He had, also, sometimes later killed another man who had accidentally crossed the boundary of the rhino enclosure.
Lohit had a violent history. Immediately after birth at the Kanpur Zoo in 1984, Lohit was transferred to the Dudhwa Natioal Park under the Rhino rehabilitation program. It was however very fatally injured by a big rhino name ‘Banke’, another male called ‘Raja’ and three females when he was barely 10 years old. Brutally injured he was under prolonged treatment for his injuries and finally shifted to the Lucknow Zoo.
Banke, the aggressor against Lohit, was the most dominant male in the Dudhwa Rhino rehabilitation project who in his obsession for females, often attacked other males and was referred to as a Bully. He died in 1996.
Speaking of dismembered horns, the Rhino horn, a tool for primary defence, is made of Keratin. Lohit had a broken horn. A broken horn usually grows back. Dehorning is aften done by conservationists to protect from poaching for horns. A rhino without a horn may feel less confident with a reduced social status especially amongst males.
©Srimaa Communication
Credits- Dr. Yashpal Singh, Mrs. Neena Singh, Mr. Manoj Kumar Yadav