Number of gharials, muggers goes up in Chambal

AGRA: The number of mugger crocodiles and gharials (

Gavialis gangeticus

) has gone up this year in the Chambal river. According to the latest census, there are 562 muggers and 1,255 gharials in the national

Chambal sanctuary

. The

Chambal gharials

are likely the only wild population that continues to live and thrive in an intact, large riverine habitat, where conditions are still favourable. At Chambal, some 200-300 nests are produced each year, resulting in approximate 8,000 hatchlings yearly. However their survival rate is just 2-3%.

According to forest department data, this year’s gharial’s figure is 93 more than the previous one, even as 108 more muggers were sighted this year. The data put the number of gangetic dolphins at 75. As many as 412 Indian skimmers were also sighted during the survey conducted between February 8 and 19 of this year.

Of 1255 gharials, 65 are males, 66 hatchlings and 101 are yearlings. As far as muggers are concerned, only one hatchling and two yearlings were sighted.

Anil Patel, deputy conservator of forest (

National Chambal Sanctuary Project

), said, "It is a positive development for the critically endangered species. We were hoping an increase in the numbers of gharials this year due to good rainfall and better hatching of eggs."

As the sanctuary is located on the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and co-administered by the three states, during a recent meeting of officials from the three states it was decided that a single collective survey will be conducted from next year onwards, rather than carrying out three separate ones. It will not only save time and energy, but also help in framing better strategies for their survival, Patel added.

Chambal river was declared a sanctuary in 1978 to provide a fully-protected habitat for conserving the gharial and other wildlife. The total length of the river inside the sanctuary is about 600 km.

More than 85% of the total global population of gharials, which are critically endangered, live in the Chambal region. However, they are facing a major threat from the organised sand mafia.

Jeffrey W Lang, researcher from the

University of Minnesota

and senior scientific advisor for the Gharial Ecology Project, who has been doing a study on them said illegal mining, coupled with irregular flow of water from dams in Rajasthan has caused high mortality among these amphibians, pushing them closer to extinction.