Forest dept releases 12 transmitter-tagged gharials in Satkosia

Bhubaneswar: Wildlife wing of forest department on Sunday released 12 GPS-tagged gharials into the Mahanadi gorge in Satkosia Tiger Reserve at Sunakhania under species recovery of gharial in Mahanadi.

The released aquatic animals comprised 11 from Nandankanan Zoological Park and one adult female gharial from Gharial Research and Conservation Unit, Tikarapada.

“The Nandankanan team, supported by Satkosia and Mahanadi wildlife divisions, executed the release of the transmitter-tagged gharials. Post-release monitoring of the released gharials is being carried out by the research teams to assess their adaptation, movement and survival in the wild. This initiative marks an important step in strengthening the wild population of this critically endangered species in its natural habitat,” said Nandankanan zoo director Sanath Kumar.

With the release of 12 gharials, the total gharial number in Satkosia wild has gone up to 27, out of which 15 are with transmitter and rest without, as those bred in Mahanadi gorge, wildlife officials said.

Last year, wildlife wing discovered 29 hatchlings of the endangered gharial on a sandbar in the Mahanadi gorge. That was the fifth consecutive year the forest department reported natural breeding of gharials at the same nesting ground.

However, the challenge is the nesting occurs between March and May every year, but the survival rate of gharial hatchlings is 0.1%, the same as that of Olive Ridley sea turtles, officials said. “In Mahanadi gorge there are crocodiles also and they are more aggressive. Their presence often leads to conflicts with gharials. This phenomenon pushes gharials upstream and they stray into other connecting rivers and creeks. A dispersed adult gharial was rescued recently,” said a wildlife officer.

“To avoid any kind of disturbance during nesting, nobody has been allowed to venture into the gorge,” the officer added.

Satkosia is the only place in the state where gharials breed in the wild. It also houses a research and conservation unit.

Officials said Nandankanan zoo is involved in Satkosia’s gharial recovery programme, that got another four-year extension from 2023-2026. Earlier it was from 2019-2022. Each leg of gharial recovery programme is of four year.