Tufted Duck

The tufted duck, also known as the tufted pochard, was a new species of duck for me which we saw on the fringe of Kaziranga NP in Assam, India in December 2024. It is found year round in central Europe, breeds in northern Europe and northern Asia and winters in portions of southern Europe, southern Asia and north and central Africa. It is seen occasionally as a winter visitor to the east and west coasts of the U.S.

They are named for a small tuft off the back of the head which appears to be larger on males than on females. The pictures of the tuft on Wikipedia and Birds of the World were larger than on the ones I saw. The male is black with white flanks and gold-yellow eyes. It looks quite similar to the ring-necked duck, greater scaup and lesser scaup. The female is brown with paler flanks and some white on the underside.

A few of the ducks in these two photos have noticeable tufts, both male and female. 

Indian (One-Horned) Rhinoceros

There are now only five types of rhino in the world. I've seen the white rhino in Nakuru NP in Kenya, the black rhino in Etosha NP in Namibia and the Indian rhino in Kaziranga NP in India. The Sumatran rhino and Javan rhino, both in Indonesia, are extremely rare. 

 

This rhino is decked out like a tank. 

I just recently saw the Indian rhino last December. Kaziranga NP has the world's largest population of Indian rhinos, also known as greater one-horned rhinos. As of 2022 there were an estimated 4,014 Indian rhinos and Kaziranga had 2,613 of them, about 65%. It is now found in only southern Nepal, Pakistan (in Lal Suhanra NP - introduced from Nepal), and India in northern west Bengal and the Brahmaputra Valley (where Kaziranga is located). 

This rhino hung out around some large Indian elephants. 

The Indian rhino is the second largest rhino, just a little smaller than the white rhino. It has "thick, silver-brown skin [which] folds into the shoulder, back, and rump, giving it an armored appearance. Its upper legs and shoulders are covered in wart-like bumps, and it has very little body hair. Grown males are larger than females in the wild, weighing from...5,500–7,100 lb. Shoulder height is...5.7–6.6 ft. Females weigh about...4,200 lb and are...9.8–13 ft long." 

I was prepared not to be too impressed with them, I'd never heard of them until recently, but came away quite excited by them. They are more active than rhinos I saw in Africa, they are much more plentiful, at least in Kaziranga, they look like they are covered in armor, more so than African rhinos, and are quite irritable, particularly when accompanied by a baby. We got chased twice by angry mothers that were snorting and running quite rapidly after us in our vehicle. 

This doesn't look like much of a baby, but mama sure let out after us, snorting and charging as fast as she could go. It was one of the most fun experiences of the trip. 

This mama also gave us a nice charge, but not quite as fun as the first one. 

We also saw newly born babies, one in particular trying to hang with its mom in a pond, and it was high on the scale of cuteness. 

This mama did a nice job of ignoring Jr. 

This little guy really struggled through the mud.

The females horns are not very long, but some male horns are extremely long, almost as impressive as the best of the African rhinos which have two horns.

This was the most impressive rhino we saw. Huge horn, large and decked out in faux armor. He got very close to our vehicle. 

This one had the most impressive horn, but lying in a depression in the ground and looking depressed, it was not intimidating at all.