"Honeymoon suite" opened for two rare Asian one-horned rhinos in Nepal

Kathmandu, Aug 17 (ANI): Nepal has opened a "honeymoon suite" for two rare Asian one-horned rhinos in one of its zoos in an attempt to encourage the pair's matting.

According to the BBC, both rhinos, Kancha (20) and Kanchi (22), have lived together in captivity for 18 years, but never bred and often squabbled.

Asian one-horned rhinos are endangered. In Nepal, only 435 are in the forests.

Thousands of the species once roamed the plains of Nepal and northern India, but their numbers have dwindled due to poaching and habitat loss.

With this initiative, Kathmandu Zoo's conservationists have expressed hope that the rhinos' decline could now be reversed.

The project has been funded by the Ace Development Bank of Nepal, whose chief executive, Siddhant Pandey, said that the enclosure already seemed to have improved the rhinos' relationship.

"In the past they kept them apart because they used to fight a lot, but recently... you see them socialising," he said. (ANI)