Crocodile

About Crocodile species found in India:

Mugger or Marsh Crocodile:

About the Species: The Mugger crocodile is a medium to large crocodilian species. It has a distinctive aspect and is the most alligator-like of all crocodile species.
Conservation Status:

• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• CITES: Appendix I

Habitat: It is a freshwater crocodile native to southern Iran to the Indian subcontinent. It is extinct in Bhutan and Myanmar.

Threats:

• Habitat destruction
• Entanglement and drowning in fishing equipment
• Increasing incidents of conflict with humans

Estuarine or Saltwater Crocodile:

About the Species: It is considered the Earth’s largest living crocodile species native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands.
Conservation Status:

• • IUCN Status: Least Concern

• CITES: Appendix I

Habitat: It is found throughout the east coast of India, Southeast Asia, and northern Australia.

Threats:

• Illegal hunting
• habitat loss and
• antipathy toward the species because of its reputation as a man-eater.

Gharial:

About the Species: The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), also known as the gavial or the fish-eating crocodile.
Conservation Status:

• IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
• CITES: Appendix I
• Wild Life (Protection) Act,1972: Schedule I

Distribution: It was once found across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. However, currently, it survives in several severely fragmented populations in India and Nepal.

Protected areas: National Chambal Sanctuary and Katarnia Ghat Wildlife Sanctuary.

Characteristics: The gharial is one of only two species in the Gavialidae family. It has a characteristic elongated, narrow snout, similar only to the tomistoma (previously called the false gharial). Many sharp, interlocking teeth line the gharial’s elongated jaws.

Threats: Construction of Dam, barrages, and water abstraction, entanglement in fishing nets, River bed cultivation and sand mining.