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What is the News?
The Mahanadi Wildlife Division in Odisha has announced a cash reward of Rs 1,000 for rescuing Gharials and informing wildlife personnel. The division will also provide compensation to fishermen whose fishing nets are destroyed by gharials.
About Gharials:
- Gharials are one of the longest of all living crocodilians. They derive their name from ghara, an Indian word for pot. It is named so because of a bulbous knob (narial excrescence) present at the end of their snout.
- Features: Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a fish-eating crocodile. It is also the only living crocodilian with visible sexual dimorphism.
- Indicator Species: They are also a crucial indicator of clean river water.
- Distribution:
- Gharials were once abundant in the main rivers and tributaries of the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Mahanadi-Brahmani river systems.
- But they are now limited to only 14 widely spaced and restricted localities of India and Nepal.
- In India, Gharials are present in Son River, Girwa River, the Ganges, Mahanadi River, and the Chambal River.
- The Satkosia gorge in the Mahanadi is the southernmost limit of gharials.
- Protected areas: National Chambal Sanctuary and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.
- IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
- Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
- CITES: Appendix I
- Threat: Construction of Dam, barrages, and water abstraction, entanglement in fishing nets, River bed cultivation, and sand mining.
- Initiatives: Indian government launched Project Crocodile with UNDP and FAO in 1975. It included an intensive captive rearing and breeding programme intended to revive the dwindling gharial population.
Crocodiles in India: India has three species of Crocodiles, namely:
- Gharials (Gharials are genetically weaker than salt water crocodiles and muggers)
- Mugger crocodile IUCN Status: Vulnerable
- Saltwater crocodile IUCN Status: Least Concern.
Crocodiles in Odisha:
- Odisha is the only state in India having all three species of crocodiles (gharial, mugger and saltwater crocodiles).
- Odisha State Forest Department has begun conservation of these three crocodile species since 1975 by establishing three rearing centres
- Tikarpada for gharials in Angul district,
- Ramatirtha for muggers in Mayurbhanj, and
- Bhitarkanika for saltwater crocodiles in Kendrapara district.
Source: Down To Earth
