Threatened crocodiles make a big comeback
new delhi — Last week this newspaper reported a rise in India’s tiger population. Well, apparently tigers are not the only wild animals flourishing. In the salty swamps of Odisha, crocodiles are procreating and multiplying exactly as the Bible recommends.
The Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha is a welcoming home to many saltwater crocodiles. Their sightings in the last three consecutive seasons have gone up considerably. Ecologists and the park officials have lost no time in congratulating themselves.
The state forest department has come across 80 crocodile nests in their wild habitats in 2017 in Bhitarkanika, compared to 75 in 2016 and 70 in 2015.
According to a forest officer, the number of crocodile nests could be much more as “we could not trace all of them due to inaccessibility. Of the 80 nests, 70 are in the Kanika range. For the first time, we discovered three crocodile nests in the Gahirmatha range”. These are various parts of the park.
Bhitarkanika is estimated to host 70 per cent of India’s salt water crocodiles. Some four decades ago, these were a threatened species. Their conservation work started in 1975, when the government and the United Nations Development Program came together to save the crocodiles in Bhitarkanika.
At that point barely three nests were sighted in the area, and the population of salt water crocodiles was estimated to be 95, including 34 adults. Now, the numbers have grown to 1,682.
Since 1977, salt water crocodile eggs have been collected, and young crocodiles released in the creeks and the estuaries of Bhitarkanika. Now crocodiles grow on their own in the wild.
The Bhitarkanika National Park is where the rivers Brahmani, Baitarni, Dhamra and Pathsala meet the Bay of Bengal. The mangrove wetland and a large number of muddy creeks are ideal conditions for salt water crocodiles to nest.
“Unlike other crocodiles, estuarine crocodiles lay eggs by creating a mound made of mangrove leaves which are in plentiful supply in Bhitarkanika. Other crocodile species dig the soil for laying eggs,” said a crocodile expert.
Crocodiles start laying eggs by mid-May, with an incubation period of 75 days. The female crocodile guards the nest for three months. Hatchlings come out in August. Though an average of 2530 eggs are likely to be found in a nest, only 30 per cent of hatchlings survive.