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Last Updated:: 23/08/2019
More than 5,000 gharials born in Chambal sanctuary
More than 5,000 gharials (Gavialis gangeticus) were born in the latest hatching season (June-July, 2019) at the National Chambal Sanctuary on the tri-junction of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
“In one range of the sanctuary, many eggs hatched and 4,141 gharials were born. In another range, 1,202 gharials took birth,” Sarvesh Bhadauria, a forest official in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, which is part of the sanctuary, said.
Apart from gharials, 400 mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) also hatched out of eggs in the two months at the sanctuary and will soon be released into the river.
The numbers are significant and have enthused forest officials and environmentalists. The number of gharials was 905 in 2012 and increased to 1,896 in 2019. On the other hand, the sanctuary had 205 mugger crocodiles in 2012 and their number rose to 706 in the past seven years.
“Gharials were vanishing from the river. But we took steps for their conservation and are now happy with the result,” said Bhadauria.
Source:
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/more-than-5-000-gharials-born-in-chambal-sanctuary-66277