India is home to a number of endangered species and huge efforts have been made in recent years to protect these animals and their environment.

But this week campaigners have once more voiced concerns over the fate of one particularly rare beast – the one-horned rhino.

Environmentalists have expressed fears over the future of one-horned rhinos living in Kaziranga National Park who have seen their number dwindle dramatically in recent years.

Based in Assam, the park is home to almost two thirds of all the one-horn rhinos on the planet, but in the first week of 2008, four were found to have been killed.

Park officials believe that last year as many as 20 of the gentle giants living in the nature reserve suffered death by poachers.

Speaking to News Track India, park director Suren Buragohain said: "The poachers are equipped with sophisticated weapons.

"But our forest guards lack the proper arms to counter them."

Earlier this month, an abandoned rhino calf was discovered in Kaziranga and rescued by Gorakati Assam Forest Department rangers and the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation. The whereabouts of its mother is not yet known.

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