{{Taxobox | name = Gharial | status = CR | status_system = iucn3.1 | status_ref =

The gharial is one of the three crocodilians found in India, the others being the Mugger crocodile and the Saltwater crocodile. It is one of the longest of all living crocodilians.

Description

.]] Gharials are exceeded in size only by the Saltwater Crocodile. Male individuals of up to were commonly encountered in the past, but such large individuals are unknown today. Their well-developed laterally flattened tail and webbed rear feet provide tremendous maneuverability in their deepwater habitat. On land, however, an adult gharial can only push itself forward and slide on its belly. Its elongated, narrow snout becomes proportionally shorter and thicker as an animal ages. The bulbous growth on the tip of a male’s snout renders gharials the only visibly sexually dimorphic crocodilian. This growth is present in mature individuals and called ghara after the Indian word meaning “pot”. Males utilize the structure to modify and amplify “hisses” snorted through the underlying nostrils. The resultant sound can be heard for nearly a kilometer on a still day.

There are multiple records of gharials having attained a weight of , but the majority do not grow past and in size. The average size of mature gharials is .

The three largest examples reported were a gharial killed in the Gogra River of Faizabad in August 1920; a individual shot in the Cheko River of Jalpaiguri in 1934; and a giant taped at , which was shot in the Kosi River of northern Bihar in January 1924.

The leg musculature of the gharial does not enable it to raise its body off the ground to achieve the high-walk gait on land, but can only push its body forward across the ground ('belly-sliding'), although it can do this with some speed when required. However, when in water, the gharial is the most nimble and quick of all the crocodilians in the world. The jaws are lined with many interlocking, razor-sharp teeth — 27 to 29 upper and 25 or 26 lower teeth on each side. These teeth are not received into interdental pits; the first, second, and third mandibular teeth fit into notches in the upper jaw. The front teeth are the largest. The gharial's snout is narrow and long, with a dilation at the end and its nasal bones are comparatively short and are widely separated from the pre-maxillaries. The nasal opening of a gharial is smaller than the supra-temporal fossae. The gharial's lower anterior margin of orbit (jugal) is raised and its mandibular symphysis is extremely long, extending to the 23rd or 24th tooth. A dorsal shield is formed from four longitudinal series of juxtaposed, keeled, and bony scutes.

The length of the snout is 3.5 (in adults) to 5.5 times (in young) the breadth of the snout's base. Nuchal and dorsal scutes form a single continuous shield composed of 21 or 22 transverse series. Gharials have an outer row of soft, smooth, or feebly keeled scutes in addition to the bony dorsal scutes. They also have two small post-occipital scutes. The outer toes of a gharial are two-thirds webbed, while the middle toe is only one-third webbed. Gharials have a strong crest on the outer edge of the forearm, leg, and foot. Typically, adult gharials consist of a dark olive color tone while young ones are pale olive, with dark brown spots or cross-bands. In India, small populations are present and increasing in the rivers of the National Chambal Sanctuary, Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Son River Sanctuary and the rainforest biome of Mahanadi in Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary, Orissa, where they apparently do not breed; In Nepal, small populations are present and slowly recovering in tributaries of the Ganges, such as the Narayani-Rapti river system in Chitwan National Park and the Karnali-Babai river system in Bardia National Park. They are extinct in Pakistan's Indus River, in the Brahmaputra of Bhutan and Bangladesh and in the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar.

There have been some small-scale projects to breed and rehabilitate gharials, like in Nepal's Chitwan National Park.

Ecology and behavior

Diet

Young gharials eat insects, larvae, and small frogs. Mature adults feed almost solely on fish, although some individuals have been known to scavenge dead animals. Their snout morphology is ideally suited for preying on fish. Their long, narrow snouts offer very little resistance to water in swiping motions to snap up fish in the water. Their numerous needle-like teeth are ideal for holding on to struggling, slippery fish. Gharials will often use their body to corral fish against the bank where they can be more easily snapped up.

Reproduction

The mating season is during November through December and well into January. The nesting and laying of eggs takes place in the dry season of March, April, and May. This is because during the dry season the rivers shrink a bit and the sandy river banks are available for nesting. Between 30 and 50 eggs are deposited into the hole that the female digs up before it is covered over carefully. After about 90 days, the juveniles emerge, although there is no record of the female assisting the juveniles into the water after they hatch (probably because their jaws are not suited for carrying the young due to the needle like teeth). However, the mother does protect the young in the water for a few days until they learn to fend for themselves.

Gharials and humans

The gharial is not a man-eater and is sensitive towards humans. Despite its immense size, its thin and fragile jaws make it physically incapable of consuming a large animal, especially a human being. The myth that gharials eat humans may come partly from their similar appearance to crocodiles and also since jewelry has been found in their stomachs. However, the gharial may have swallowed this jewelry while scavenging corpses or as gastroliths used to aid digestion or buoyancy management.

Threats

According to IUCN, there has been a population decline of 96–98% over a three-generation period since 1946, and the once widespread population of an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 individuals has been reduced to a very small number of widely spaced subpopulations of fewer than 235 individuals in 2006. The drastic decline in the gharial population can be attributed to a variety of causes including over-hunting for skins and trophies, egg collection for consumption, killing for indigenous medicine, and killing by fishermen. Hunting is no longer considered to be a significant threat. However, the wild population of gharials has undergone a drastic decline of about 58% within nine years between 1997 and 2006 due to

the increasing intensity of fishing and the use of gill nets, which is rapidly killing many of the scarce adults and many subadults — a threat prevalent throughout most of the present gharial habitat, even in protected areas;

the excessive, irreversible loss of riverine habitat caused by the construction of dams, barrages, irrigation canals, siltation, changes in river course, artificial embankments, sand-mining, riparian agriculture, and domestic and feral livestock, which have combined to cause an extreme limitation to gharial range.

Conservation programs have been undertaken in India and Nepal, based on the establishment of protected areas and restocking these with animals born in captivity, but nowhere has restocking re-established viable populations.

In captivity

Gharials are bred in captivity in the National Chambal Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh, and in the Gharial Breeding Centre in Nepal's Chitwan National Park, where they are generally grown for two to three years and average about one meter, when released.

Classification

Order Crocodilia

* Superfamily Gavialoidea

**** Genus †Eothoracosaurus

**** Genus †Thoracosaurus

**** Genus †Eosuchus

**** Genus †Argochampsa

** Family Gavialidae

*** '''Subfamily Gavialinae

**** Genus Gavialis

***** Gavialis gangeticus - modern gharial

***** †Gavialis curvirostris

***** †Gavialis breviceps

***** †Gavialis bengawanicus

***** †Gavialis lewisi

*** '''Subfamily Tomistominae

**** Genus Tomistoma

***** Tomistoma schlegelii, false gharial or Malayan gharial

***** †Tomistoma lusitanica

***** †Tomistoma cairense

**** Genus †Eogavialis

***** †Eogavialis africanus

***** †Eogavialis andrewsi

**** Genus †Kentisuchus

**** Genus †Gavialosuchus

**** Genus †Paratomistoma

**** Genus †Thecachampsa

**** Genus †Rhamphosuchus

**** Genus †Toyotamaphimeia

*** Subfamily †Gryposuchinae

**** Genus †Aktiogavialis

**** Genus †Gryposuchus

**** Genus †Ikanogavialis

**** Genus †Siquisiquesuchus

**** Genus †Piscogavialis

**** Genus †Hesperogavialis

Vernacular names

Common names include Indian gharial, Indian gavial, Fish-eating crocodile, Gavial del Ganges, Gavial du Gange, Long-nosed crocodile, Bahsoolia, Chimpta, Lamthora, Mecho Kumhir, Naka, Nakar, Shormon, Thantia, Thondre, Garial.

Appearances in popular culture

In the PlayStation 2 video game, , one of the more noted animals that Naked Snake can consume for his survival is the Indian Gavial.

The expansion of the trading card game features a "Crocodile" creature called Grayscaled Gharial, and the Shards of Alara expansion includes the creature Algae Gharial.

In Esperanto, the verb gaviali ("to gharial") means to speak Esperanto in a situation where another language would be more appropriate.

See also

List of reptiles of South Asia

References

External links

WWF info about gharials

Arkive images and video

Informal article with photos

Photo of a large specimen in the wild

Teeth and feeding

Photos from Fort Worth Zoo

Folk tale about gharial

Gavialis gangeticus - description with photographs in Czech language

500 gharial babies BBC footage

Category:Gavialidae Category:Reptiles of India Category:Reptiles of Pakistan Category:Fauna of Bangladesh Category:Scavengers Category:Megafauna of Eurasia Category:Monotypic reptile genera Category:Animals described in 1789

Romulus Earl Whitaker (born May 23, 1943) is a herpetologist, wildlife conservationist and founder of the Madras Snake Park, The Andaman and Nicobar Environment Trust (ANET), and the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. In 2008, Whitaker was selected as an Associate Laureate in the 2008 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, for his efforts to create a network of rainforest research stations throughout India. In 2005 he was a winner of a Whitley Award for outstanding leadership in nature conservation. He used this award to found the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station in Karnataka, for the study of King Cobras and their habitat.

Work in India

Whitaker was the founder director of the Snake Park in Chennai. The park was conceived to rehabilitate the Irula tribe who are known for their expertise in catching snakes. The tribals were left jobless after the ban of snake trading. Whitaker helped the Irula tribe to get involved in extracting snake venom used for the production of antivenom drugs. Rom is the Founder-Director of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust Centre for Herpetology, actively involved in crocodile breeding and conservation programs.

Whitaker is currently coordinating an effort to save the Gharial, a Critically endangered species of Crocodilia on the brink of extinction with less than 250 individuals left in Indian waters. On December 27, 2010, the Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, during a visit with Rom at the Madras Crocodile Bank, announced the formation of a National Tri-State Chambal Sanctuary Management and Coordination Committee for gharial conservation on 1,600 km² of the National_Chambal_Sanctuary for Ghariyals along the Chambal River in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Committee will comprise of representatives of the states Water Resources Ministries, State Departments of Irrigation and Power, Wildlife Institute of India, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, the Gharial Conservation Alliance, Development Alternatives, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Divisional Forest officers of the three States. The Committee will plan strategies for protection of gharials and their habitat. This will involve further research on the species and its ecology and socio-economic evaluation of dependent riparian communities. Funding for this new initiative will be mobilized as a sub-scheme of the ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats’ in the amount of Rs.50 million to 80 million (USD 1 million to 1.7 million) each year for five years. This project has long been advocated by Rom Whitaker.

Professional affiliations

Rom is Honorary Consultant, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources/Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC), Vice Chairman (Western Asia), IUCN/SSC Crocodile Specialist Group, Member, IUCN/SSC Indian Subcontinent Reptile and Amphibian Group and Member, IUCN/SSC Sea Turtle Specialist Group.

He is a Member of the Advisory Committee and the Editorial Board of the Bombay Natural History Society, as well as Correspondent, The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, USA; Advisor, Irula Tribal Women's’ Welfare Society, Afforestation Project; Member, Centre for Science and Education, New Delhi; Member, Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad and Founder-Member, Tamil Nadu Society for Social Forestry Research. He is also Chief Technical Advisor, Irula Snake Catchers’ Industrial Cooperative Society; Convenor, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chapter; and Founder – Member, Palni Hills Conservation Council. on the Snakes of India.

Personal

Rom and his sister Gail (born 1939) grew up in New York City. After the birth of his sister Nina, his mother Doris Norden and his stepfather, Rama Chattopadhyaya moved the family to India when Rom was seven. Rom's stepfather was a pioneer in color film processing in Bombay (now Mumbai) for Bollywood. His brother Neelkanth was born in Mumbai in 1953. Rom continued his education (begun in New York) at the Kodaikanal International School (class of 1960). He studied briefly at Wyoming University. During the early Vietnam era he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he trained and was a medic on a military base hospital in Japan.

After his Army tour of duty, he apprenticed from 1963 to 1965 at the Miami Serpentarium with Bill Haast, whom he affectionately calls his "guru". A short career in the Merchant Navy brought him back to India. He married his ex-wife Zai Whitaker in 1974, they have two sons, Nikhil (Wildlife Management) and Samir,(microbiologist). In 1986, He earned a B.Sc. in Wildlife management from Pacific Western University. Rom is a naturalized Indian citizen. Rom currently lives in Tamil Nadu with his life partner, Janaki Lenin, on a farm south of Chennai.

External sources

Rom Whitaker Interview

Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) Web Portal

References

Category:1943 births Category:Herpetologists Category:Indian biologists Category:Indian zoologists Category:Indian conservationists Category:Conservationists Category:Indian environmentalists Category:Living people Category:Indian people of American descent Category:Kodaikanal International School alumni Category:People with acquired Indian citizenship Category:American immigrants to India Category:Conservation in India