{"id":354801,"date":"2026-01-27T16:01:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=354801"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:13:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:43:47","slug":"gandak-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gandak-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Gandak River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News: <\/strong>The Gandak river has emerged as the second major river after the Chambal with the highest number of gharials.<\/p>\n<h2>About Gandak River<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_354812\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-354812\" style=\"width: 325px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-354812\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Living-Water-Museum.jpg?resize=325%2C417&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Gandak River\" width=\"325\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Living-Water-Museum.jpg?resize=234%2C300&amp;ssl=1 234w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Living-Water-Museum.jpg?w=611&amp;ssl=1 611w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-354812\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Living Water Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Gandak River is a<strong> major river of Nepal<\/strong> and a <strong>left-bank tributary of the Ganges in India.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Origin:<\/strong> It <strong>originates at an altitude of 620 m above msl to the north of Dhaulagiri Mountain in Tibet<\/strong> near Nepal border.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Course of river:<\/strong> Gandak River is known as the<strong> Kali Gandaki and Narayani after its confluence with the Trisuli River in Nepal.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">While flowing through the Nepal Himalayas,<strong> it forms the Kali Gandaki gorge, one of the deepest river gorges in the world.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">It <strong>flows southward into India<\/strong> and passes through the <strong>districts of West Champaran, East Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, and Vaishali in Bihar,<\/strong> as well as<strong> Gorakhpur and Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">It <strong>finally joins Ganga at Hajipur in Bihar.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Total Catchment area:\u00a0<\/strong> 46,300 km\u00b2.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Major Tributaries:<\/strong> Daraudi, Seti, Madi, Marsyandi, and Budhi Gandaki.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fauna:<\/strong> The basin supports species such as <strong>tiger, one-horned rhinoceros, gaur, and fishing cat, Gangetic dolphin, smooth-coated otter, gharial, and mugger, gangetic dolphins, turtles, greater and lesser adjutants and the common shelduck,<\/strong> etc<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About Gharial<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The gharial\u00a0is a<strong> species of crocodilian. <\/strong>It scientific name is <strong>Gavialis gangeticus.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is the<strong> only visibly sexually dimorphic crocodilian,<\/strong> <strong>characterized by a large, bulbous knob called a\u00a0<em class=\"eujQNb\">ghara<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> Gharials are primarily <strong>found in the rivers of India and Nepal.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The surviving population can be found within the <strong>tributaries of the Ganges river system:<\/strong> <strong>Girwa, Son, Ramganga, Gandak, Chambal and Mahanadi.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat: <\/strong>Gharials prefer <strong>deep, fast-flowing rivers<\/strong> but are also found in <strong>still water branches and deep holes at river bends and confluences.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Physical Characteristics<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It is one of the largest crocodilian species. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Male gharials<\/strong>\u00a0grow between\u00a0<strong>3 to 6 m in length<\/strong>, while\u00a0<strong>females range from 2.6 to 4.5 m.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Mature males develop a bulbous growth called a ghara<\/strong> on their snouts, which t<strong>hey use to produce vocalization<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Their\u00a0<strong>distinctive snout is lined with sharp, interlocking teeth,<\/strong>\u00a0which help them catch fish efficiently.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gharials are not well-suited for walking on land and spend most of their time in water.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Importance in Ecosystem: <\/strong>Gharials play a\u00a0<strong>vital role in maintaining the balance of river ecosystems and act<\/strong><strong>\u00a0an indicator of a healthy ecosystem.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Threats to Gharial: <\/strong><strong>Habitat destruction, <\/strong><strong>Fishing activities and <\/strong><strong>Climate change<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Conservation status:<\/strong> Listed in<strong> Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972<\/strong> and as <strong>Critically Endangered<\/strong> on <strong>IUCN Red List.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Conservation efforts:<\/strong>\n<ul data-start=\"145\" data-end=\"364\">\n<li data-start=\"145\" data-end=\"265\">Between 1975 and 1982, India established\u00a0<strong data-start=\"188\" data-end=\"231\">16 captive breeding and release centers<\/strong>\u00a0to support gharial populations.<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"268\" data-end=\"364\">The species primarily survives in five key sanctuaries:\u00a0<strong data-start=\"474\" data-end=\"510\">National Chambal Sanctuary (NCS),\u00a0<\/strong><strong data-start=\"520\" data-end=\"546\">Katerniaghat Sanctuary,\u00a0<\/strong><strong data-start=\"556\" data-end=\"581\">Chitwan National Park,\u00a0<\/strong><strong data-start=\"591\" data-end=\"614\">Son River Sanctuary and\u00a0<\/strong><strong data-start=\"624\" data-end=\"652\">Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Gandak river has emerged as the second major river after the Chambal with the highest number of gharials. About Gandak River Gandak River is a major river of Nepal and a left-bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Origin: It originates at an altitude of 620 m above msl to the north of&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gandak-river\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Gandak River<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11209,12039,11834],"tags":[11872,11074],"class_list":["post-354801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-geography-in-news","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-the-times-of-india","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}