Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
me test first for full sedation.” Grabbing a stick, he poked at the rhino's broad backside. So
much for the textbook: the two-meter-tall rhino jumped to his feet.
The elephants trumpeted in alarm. The men on the ground scrambled for safety, trying
not to be trampled by the fleeing rhino or panicked elephants. Fortunately, no one was hurt
and the moment of bedlam passed. Behind them, Vishnu, the other trackers, and the elephant
drivers howled with laughter. The excitable chief park warden, Ram Pritt Yadav, joined in.
Hilarity in the aftermath of near disaster was practically a national custom.
Sunder was already preparing another drug cocktail for a second attempt. The trackers
gathered round. He explained, “Either the contents of the first syringe didn't inject at all, or,
most probably, it only partially injected.” This seemed like a plausible hypothesis, preferable
to the alternative—that modern sedatives had no effect on ancient pachyderms.
The rhino was still in the vicinity, and within minutes we had repeated the drill: encircle,
dart, wait until the drug put the rhino under its spell. This time it worked, and soon we were
swarming over the sleeping male, covering his eyes and plugging his ears to minimize arous-
al and attaching the radio collar. “Forty-five centimeters,” I said to Ram Kumar Aryal, who
was writing measurements on a data sheet. I had just measured the massive horn, as long
as a chair leg. We tested the collar's transmitter, and it sent out a strong signal. The beacon
would allow us to locate the male with minimal effort even when he was in hiding and, after
a trial period, enable us to habituate him to our presence on elephant-back. We could then
learn where he lived, the pattern of his movements, and more intimate details associated with
breeding.
Our team posed for a group picture, gathering around Yadav, as we named the rhino in
honor of the presiding chief warden. Then it was time to saddle up and, from the safety of
elephant-back, watch the rhino wake up. Vishnu stood next to the massive head and held the
rhino's ear so Sunder could find a vein. The skilled vet administered the antidote and then
both men remounted quickly. The drivers and trackers sat in awe of modern pharmaceutic-
als: a few drops of a drug a thousand times more concentrated than morphine to knock down
a massive rhinoceros, a few more drops of the fast-acting reversal agent to right the beast.
In less than thirty seconds, Yadav was rejuvenated. The big male shoved off, uttering deep,
huffing grunts in cadence with its departing trot.
As we headed back to camp, one of the drivers burst into song and was joined by a
chorus of colleagues. A celebration lay ahead. There would be feasting, folk songs and nat-
ive dances, and a retelling, for at least the tenth time, of the day's big adventure. For me, the
capture was burned into memory: on that foggy morning, there in the elephant grass, I had
touched my first unicorn.
