India Floods Swamp National Park, Killing 6 Rhinos

An one-horned rhinoceros wades through flood water at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on June 20, 2024. (Photo by Biju BORO / AFP)
An one-horned rhinoceros wades through flood water at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on June 20, 2024. (Photo by Biju BORO / AFP)
TT
20

India Floods Swamp National Park, Killing 6 Rhinos

An one-horned rhinoceros wades through flood water at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on June 20, 2024. (Photo by Biju BORO / AFP)
An one-horned rhinoceros wades through flood water at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on June 20, 2024. (Photo by Biju BORO / AFP)

Devastating floods in India's northeast that have killed scores of people also swamped a national park drowning six threatened rhinos and other wildlife, government officials said Tuesday.

Floods have begun to ease, Assam state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a statement, noting the "water level of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries is below the danger level in most places".

More than 1.8 million people have been affected across 3,000 villages, as well as 72 killed since mid-May, according to state disaster officials.

Monsoon rains across South Asia from June to September offer respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies, but also bring widespread death and destruction.

The intensity of rain and floods has increased in recent years, with experts saying climate change is exacerbating the problem.

As the waters recede, the impact on wildlife from the deluge is also being seen, including in Kaziranga National Park.

"Floods have affected humans and animals alike," Sarma said, adding officers had been "working round the clock to aid everyone".

On Monday, Sarma posted a video on social media of a stranded rhino calf, up to its chin in water, saying he had "instructed its immediate rescue".

Kaziranga is home to two-thirds of the world's remaining one-horned rhinos, classified as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.

The park has 2,413 rhinos, according to a 2018 count.

Wildlife officers said six rhinos as well as scores of deer had been killed in recent days.

"Although there is higher ground for the shelter of the animals, the animals suffer when the high floods affect the park," said a senior park official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, confirming the animal deaths.

Kaziranga, a UNESCO world heritage site, is flooded almost every year, helping replenish water supplies and the ecological balance of the park.



Stargazers Marvel at ‘Blood Moon’, Rare Total Lunar Eclipse 

The moon is seen behind the Galata Tower in Istanbul, Türkiye, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
The moon is seen behind the Galata Tower in Istanbul, Türkiye, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Stargazers Marvel at ‘Blood Moon’, Rare Total Lunar Eclipse 

The moon is seen behind the Galata Tower in Istanbul, Türkiye, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
The moon is seen behind the Galata Tower in Istanbul, Türkiye, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red "Blood Moon" during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of Friday morning.

The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa.

The phenomenon happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite.

But as the Earth's shadow crept across the Moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow -- instead the Moon glowed a reddish color.

This is because the only sunlight that reaches the Moon is "bent and scattered" as it goes through Earth's atmosphere, said Daniel Brown, an astronomer at Britain's Nottingham Trent University.

It is similar to how the light can become pink or red during sunrises or sunsets on Earth, he added.

The more clouds and dust there are in Earth's atmosphere, the redder the Moon appears.

Brown called the lunar eclipse, which will last around six hours, "an amazing way to see the solar system in action".

The period when the Moon is completely in Earth's shadow -- called the totality -- lasts just over an hour.

This event has been dubbed the "Blood Worm Moon", after one of the names given to March full moons by some Native Americans.

- 'Inspire us' -

In North America, the moon started to look like a bite was being taken out of it from 1:09 am Eastern Time (0509 GMT), with the totality from 2:26 am to 3:31 am, according to NASA.

In France, the totality is from 7:26 am to 8:31 am local time (0626-0731 GMT), according to the French Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation.

Only the most western parts of Europe, such as France's Brittany region, will get any chance to see the totality before the Moon sets.

People in New Zealand have the opposite problem, with the eclipse only partially visible as the Moon rose.

Brown dislikes the term "Blood Moon", saying it has a negative connotation and "originates from a misinformed theory of the end of the world".

But not all societies took a negative view of these celestial shows.

Some people in Africa traditionally viewed a lunar eclipse as a conflict between the Sun and Moon that could be resolved by people "demonstrating on Earth how we work together" and laying old feuds aside, Brown said.

He called it "an amazing story that should inspire us all".

- Solar eclipse soon -

It is the first total lunar eclipse since 2022, but there will be another one this September.

Thursday's event is a "Micromoon", meaning the Moon is the farthest away it gets from Earth, making it appear about seven percent smaller than normal, according to the website Earthsky.

This is the opposite of a "Supermoon", as was seen during 2022's lunar eclipse.

Some stargazers will be in for another treat later this month -- a partial solar eclipse, which is when the Moon blocks out the Sun's light on Earth.

This eclipse will be visible on March 29 in eastern Canada, parts of Europe, northern Russia and northwest Africa.

Viewing even a partial solar eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous, and people are advised to use special eclipse glasses or pinhole projectors.