Kathmandu, Nov 24 (IANS) After the president, prime minister and other ministers in Nepal, the Himalayan republic has added a new VIP entitled to have bodyguards - its rare one-horned rhinos.

In two national parks in southern and farwestern Nepal, where the endangered species is found, a novel effort to protect them from poachers has paid rich dividends, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said Tuesday at a seminar at London Zoo.

About 18 months ago, conservationists from ZSL joined forces with Nepal's local communities to form a team of rhino bodyguards in the Bardiya and Chitwan National Parks.

The bodyguards, riding on elephant-back, have been trained to recognise individual rhinos and adhere to strict scientific monitoring to protect the species' last remaining strongholds.

'Not a single rhino from the Bardiya population has been poached since the patrols began 18 months ago,' ZSL said in a press statement issued in Nepal Tuesday.

In 2005, a rhino census in Nepal had spotted only 372 rhinos, fuelling fears among conservationists that the animal - treasured for its horn and hide - was fast becoming extinct due to rampant poaching.

Bardiya was initially sought as a safe haven for a new population of rhinos translocated from the Chitwan National Park.

However, heavy poaching quickly turned the park into a killing field and the rhino population there plummeted to just 22 individuals.

Rogue members of the Nepal Army stationed to protect the rhino were eventually exposed as being responsible for killing the animals, prompting a new collaborative approach between the army, conservationists and the local people to save the greater one-horned rhino.

Says Richard Kock, ZSL conservationist, 'When we first arrived in Nepal, the barbed wire and machine gun mounts were still evident, and the losses of rhino from the last refuges in the Terai were horrific. (But now) our Darwin Initiative project has catalysed increasing commitment from Nepalis, restoring pride in their national parks and recovering their dwindling wildlife.'

Invasive species, deforestation and settlement encroachment are some of the other threats facing Nepal's greater one-horned rhinos. ZSL continues to work with the local communities and its other conservation partners in Nepal to address these problems and anti-poaching patrols are now being implemented in Chitwan, where encouraging results are already being seen.

The latest census in 2008 gives cause for optimism with the number of rhinos having gone up to 408. With many of the 130 females being in their prime, the Chitwan national Park authorities feel the rhino population will go up in the coming years.