Food Habit and Feeding Patterns of Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, Assam, India

Table 3

The food plant species, in which habitat it occurs, feeding percentage, and major categories of food-plants of Rhinoceros unicornis in Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park (PM: premonsoon; M: monsoon; RTM: retreating monsoon; WIN: winter; WSG: wet short grass; WCSG: wet creeping short grass; DSG: dry short grass; DST: dry short tree; DTT: dry tall tree; DH: dry herbs; DS: dry shrubs; EAB: emergent aquatic bed; CAB: creeping aquatic bed; FFAB: free-floating aquatic bed; SM: submerged; SV: swampy vegetation; GL: grassland; Aq: aquatic; WL: woodland).

Food plant species	Families	Types of food plants	Habitat category	Percent of feeding
				PM	M	RTM	WIN
(a) Grasses
Agrostis zenkeri	Poaceae	WSG	GL	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.89
Apluda mutica	Poaceae	DSG	GL	2.2	0.5	0.0	1.7
Arundinella bengalensis	Poaceae	WCSG	GL	1.8	2.3	1.06	0.9
Arundinella nepalensis	Poaceae	WCSG	GL	1.9	0.7	0.49	1.84
Arundo donax	Poaceae	WTG	GL	7.8	5.6	6.8	5.3
Axonopus compressus	Poaceae	WSG	GL	1.4	0.0	0.0	0.58
Brachiaria ramosa	Poaceae	WCSG	GL	2.4	6.8	3.45	2.66
Chrysopogon aciculatus	Poaceae	DSG	GL	4.0	5.8	4.46	4.13
Cynodon dactylon	Poaceae	WSG	GL	3.0	1.5	2.3	1.63
Cyperus cyperoides	Cyperaceae	WSG	GL	0.0	0.1	0.4	0.0
Cyperus rotundus	Cyperaceae	WSG	GL	0.0	2.4	1.6	1.53
Cyperus brevifolius	Cyperaceae	WSG	GL	0.0	0.4	1.8	0
Cyperus globosus	Cyperaceae	WSG	GL	0.0	0.2	0.47	0.23
Cyperus kyllingia	Cyperaceae	WSG	GL	0.0	0.9	0.4	0
Cyrtococcum accrescens	Cyperaceae	DSG	GL	1.7	0.0	0.0	0.94
Dichanthium caricosum	Poaceae	WSG	GL	1.7	0.0	0.0	1.89
Digitaria ciliaris	Poaceae	WSG	GL	0.8	0	0.8	2.4
Echinochloa crus-galli	Poaceae	WSG	GL	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.89
Eleusine indica	Poaceae	DSG	GL	1.8	0.3	1.75	1.92
Eragrostis japonica	Poaceae	WTG	GL	1.2	0.0	0.9	0.56
Eragrostis unioloides	Poaceae	WSG	GL	0.8	0.1	0.0	1.84
Eriochloa procera	Poaceae	WSG	GL	1.7	0.5	0.6	0.32
Hemarthria compressa	Poaceae	WSG	GL	7.9	13.0	14.3	11.8
Hemarthria protesna	Poaceae	WSG	GL	1.0	1.6	1.86	0.82
Hygroryza aristata	Poaceae	WSG	GL	1.8	2.3	2.48	1.34
Hymenachne pseudointerrupta	Poaceae	WCSG	GL	7.9	14	12.6	8.57
Sacciolepis interrupta	Poaceae	DSG	GL	2.2	1.0	0.74	2.06
Leersia hexandra	Poaceae	WCSG	GL	3.5	14	9.23	8.7
Leptochloa panicea	Poaceae	WSG	GL	1.8	1.0	1.7	1.56
Panicum walense	Poaceae	DSG	GL	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.84
Oplismenus burmannii	Poaceae	DSG	GL	1.3	1.0	1.6	0.87
Paspalidiumflavidum	Poaceae	WCSG	GL	0.6	0.0	0.56	1.61
Paspalum conjugatum	Poaceae	WSG	GL	0.7	1.3	1.33	0.89
Paspalum dilatatum	Poaceae	WSG	GL	0.9	1.1	1.5	0.6
Phragmites karka	Poaceae	WTG	GL	5.8	3.3	3.88	4.67
Saccharum procerum	Poaceae	WTG	GL	1.1	1.8	0.93	1.83
Saccharum ravennae	Poaceae	WTG	GL	2.6	1.8	0.8	2.31
Saccharum spontaneum	Poaceae	WTG	GL	3.7	1.0	0.68	2.89
Setaria pumila	Poaceae	WSG	GL	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.7
Themeda villosa	Poaceae	WTG	GL	2.4	0.8	1.06	2.62
Vetiveria zizanioides	Poaceae	WTG	GL	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.07
Imperata cylindrica	Poaceae	DSG	GL	1.6	2.5	2.6	1.2
(b) Aquatic plants
Ipomea aquatica	Convolvulaceae	CAB	Aq	1.0	1.5	1.9	1.26
Pistia stratiotes	Araceae	FFAB	Aq	1.7	1.6	0.74	0.89
Eichhornia crassipes	Pontederiaceae	FFAB	Aq	0.9	1.1	0.84	0.0
Vallisneria spiralis	Hydrocharitaceae	SM	Aq	0.7	0.0	1.66	0.0
Hydrilla verticillata	Hydrocharitaceae	SM	Aq	1.6	0.0	1.8	0.3
Nymphaea nouchali	Nymphaeaceae	EAB	Aq	0.0	1.0	0.87	0.0
Trapa bispinosa	Trapaceae	EAB	Aq	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
Enhydra fluctuans	Asteraceae	CAB	Aq	0.5	2.1	1.35	0.7
Alpinia allughas	Zingiberaceae	SV	Aq	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.0
(c) Herbs and shrubs
Ageratum conyzoides	Asteraceae	DS	WL	0.5	0.0	0.02	0.4
Mikania micrantha	Asteraceae	DH	WL	0.5	0.0	0.47	0.55
Melastoma malabathricum	Melastomataceae	DS	WL	0.6	0.0	0	0
Lantana camera	Verbenaceae	DS	WL	0.7	0.0	0.55	0
Xanthium strumarium	Asteraceae	DS	WL	0.7	0.0	0.53	0.16
Grewia sapida	Tiliaceae	DS	WL	0.9	0.7	0.61	0.53
Polygonum hydropiper	Polygonaceae	DH	WL	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.01
Diplazium esculentum	Dryopteridaceae	DH	WL	0.9	0.0	0.2	0.67
Amaranthus spinosus	Amaranthaceae	DH	WL	1.0	0.0	0.6	0.0
(d) Trees
Bombax ceiba	Bombacaceae	DTT	WL	0.9	0.0	0	0.78
Trewia nudiflora	Euphorbiaceae	DTT	WL	0.5	0.6	0.66	0.76
Dalbergia sissoo	Papilionaceae	DTT	WL	0.7	0.9	0.12	0.87
Cassia fistula	Caesalpiniaceae	DTT	WL	0.5	0.4	0.05	0.81
Mangifera indica	Anacardiaceae	DTT	WL	0.0	0.4	0.03	0.0
Ficus glomerata	Moraceae	DTT	WL	0.6	0.4	0.01	0.63
Streblus asper	Moraceae	DST	WL	0.0	0.0	0.01	0.0
Ficus rumphii	Moraceae	DTT	WL	0.1	0.4	1.03	0.9
Artocarpus heterophyllus	Moraceae	DTT	WL	0.0	0.5	0.01	0.04
Ziziphus zuzuba	Rhamnaceae	DST	WL	0.5	0.3	0.02	0.26
Bauhinia purpurea	Leguminoseae	DTT	WL	0.0	0.0	0.02	0.35