NCERT Mislabels Indian Rhino, Carries Inaccurate Information in Class 4 Textbook

Indian rhinos are one-horned whereas the image accompanying the facts about the animal was that of a two-horned African rhino.

The Wire Staff

Apr 30 2025

Indian rhinos are one-horned whereas the image accompanying the facts about the animal was that of a two-horned African rhino.

ncert mislabels indian rhino carries inaccurate information in class 4 textbook

An Indian rhinoceros, also known as greater one-horned rhinoceros with its calf.(Representative image). Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Wildlife experts and educationists have slammed the The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for mislabeling an African rhino as the Indian rhino in a class 4 mathematics textbook.

The error was in the “Did you know?” section of the ‘1,000s Around Us’ chapter of the book.

The text accompanying the photo of the African rhino said, “ The Indian rhinoceros is found in the foothills of the Himalayas in Northeast India. Floods and medicinal value of their horns have led to a reduction in their population. In the early 1900s, their population was driven to near extinction with as little as 200 rhinoceroses. But with recent conservation measures, there are now around 4,000 rhinoceroses.”

However, Indian rhinos are one-horned whereas the image accompanying this text was that of a two-horned rhino.

“In the recently published NCERT class 4 Math textbook, an Indian rhino is shown to have two horns (Pg 45). Such mistakes are not acceptable in an NCERT textbook,” Udoy Bhaskar Borah wrote on X.

Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, the Assam-based chair of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission, said, “The name of the greater one-horned rhino should have made it clear that it has one horn. These rhinos are also largely found in the floodplains ecosystem of Assam, besides the foothills of the Himalayas.”

Talukdar added that mentioning the horn’s medicinal value could normalise poaching in the students’ minds. “Further, the NCERT should note that floods in Assam are a natural phenomenon and essential for the floodplains ecosystem,” he added.

Assam education minister Ranoj Pegu has instructed the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to examine the matter, the Hindu reported.

“I have not seen the NCERT textbook. If it is indeed erroneous, the SCERT will inform the NCERT,” he said.

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