A rhino in Jaldapara during the census on Sunday. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

Alipurduar, Feb. 24: The forest department will conduct a feasibility study to see if rhinos can be introduced in the Buxa Tiger Reserve to try and expand their gene pool in neighbouring Jaldapara, where it has apparently suffered because of years of breeding among a small group of animals.

A forest officer said genetic diversity among rhinos in the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary in Jalpaiguri had become low because of extensive “inbreeding”, which “lowers the biological fitness of animals”.

S.B. Patel, a chief conservator of forests, said: “If inbreeding continues in Jaldapara, the calves that will be born in the years to come will lose at least 50 per cent of body resistance. We need a new gene pool. We have selected Buxa to start this new pool. But we have to first conduct a study on whether grassland can be developed there. The rhinos also need wetland. Everything depends on the outcome of the study.”

Jaldapara and Buxa are adjacent to each other and foresters are hoping there will be breeding between the rhinos of the two forests in the future, which will ensure greater genetic diversity.

If things go according to plan, a pair of adult rhinos will be brought from Kaziranga in Assam.

However, their new habitat has to be developed first. To find out whether grassland — once abundant in Buxa but now missing in vast stretches — can be brought back, the forest department has invited scientists from the Wild Life Institute of India in Dehra Dun.

According to a forest official, there used to be proper rhino habitat in Buxa in the 1950s. In the next decade, the forest department decided to plant large trees such as sal, shish and teak for commercial purposes. The grassland was destroyed during the plantation drive. Over the years, the Buxa rhinos migrated to Jaldapara or Kaziranga.