4-Jan-2020: Bhitarkanika census finds an increase of 15 saltwater crocodiles from last year

The population of the saltwater or estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) has increased in the water bodies of Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park and its nearby areas in Kendrapara district, with forest officials counting 1,757 individuals in this year’s annual reptile census on January 3, 2020. Last year, they had counted 1,742 crocodiles in the area.

They formed 22 teams to count the crocodiles in all the creeks and rivers within the park and its nearby areas. The peak winter, exposure of more than fifty per cent of mud banks and the lunar cycle made January 3 an excellent date for the counting of the reptiles.

During the census, they sighted 620 hatchlings, 325 yearlings, 288 juveniles, 185 sub-adults (six to eight feet long) and 339 adults (more than 8 feet long). Last year, they had sighted 619 hatchlings, 347 yearlings, 273  juveniles, 178 sub-adults and 325 adults.

The enumerators also sighted around 12 albino crocodiles and four giant crocodiles more than 20 feet long in the water bodies of Bhitarkanika during the census.

25-Jan-2019: Crocodylus palustris, a crocodile species that is being removed from the Narmada

The mugger crocodile, also called marsh crocodile or broad-snouted crocodile, is a species (Crocodylus palustris) native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran and Pakistan to the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka. It has come to the centre of renewed attention in Gujarat, where the Forest Department has started evacuating muggers from two ponds on the Sardar Sarovar Dam premises on the Narmada, to facilitate a seaplane service at the Statue of Unity.

Already extinct in Bhutan and Myanmar, the mugger has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1982. In India, it is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Among the six schedules in the Act, Schedule I and part II of Schedule II provide the highest degrees of protection to listed species, with the most stringent penalties for offenders.

For animals listed in Schedule I, any of kind of population control activity, capture for captivity, or transportation can involve cumbersome processes. This includes even transportation of crocodiles. So its relocation or capture is definitely illegal without permission. However, state governments have the authority to give permissions in some situations where they become a danger for the human population.

Vadodara, 90 km from the Narmada dam, is the only city in the country where crocodiles live in their natural habitat amidst human population. Crocodiles from the Vishwamitri river, where they number around 300, often enter people’s homes, giving rise to conflict and capture. Most of these crocodiles are thereafter released in the Narmada dam waters, away from human habitats.

Experts say crocodiles were listed under Schedule I not because of the fear of extinction but to prevent their trade. Crocodiles are valued for their skin and flesh. In some cases, they are also worshipped, including in the Narmada. In idols of the Narmada Goddess, a crocodile is her vehicle; there is an idol on the premises of the Narmada Dam. Goddess Khodiyar Maa, who is worshipped by a section of Gujaratis, is also seen riding a crocodile as a symbol of her supremacy over land and water.

15-Jan-2019: Crocodile count rises to 1,742 in Odisha

The population of saltwater crocodiles in Bhitarkanika has increased with the annual census, putting the head-count at 1,742. The authorities of Bhitarkanika National Park, home to the largest population of estuarine crocodiles, had carried out the enumeration in the creeks, rivers and water bodies located across the four ranges in the park. The forest officials also sighted 12 albino  crocodiles during the census. Last year, the enumerators had sighted 1,698 reptiles.

During the two-day census, 619 hatchlings, 347 yearlings, 273  juveniles, 178 sub-adults (six to eight feet long) and 325 adults reptiles (more than eight feet long) were sighted. Last year, 610 hatchlings, 338 yearlings, 267 juveniles, 172 sub-adults and 311 adults were reported.

The increase in population was primarily due to the far-sighted measures of the Government. In 1975, the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment in collaboration with the UNDP had started a crocodile breeding and rearing project in Dangamala within the park. Thanks to the success of the project, the crocodile population started increasing in the creeks, river and other water bodies of the park and its nearby areas. Nine years back, the Guinness Book of World Records had registered a 23-foot-long saltwater crocodile in Bhitarkanika as the largest crocodile in the world.