Gharial breeding along the Chambal river in India

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• published: 26 Nov 2013
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Gharial is evolutionarily the most unique crocodilian in the world being a specialized river dwelling fish-eater, but harmless to humans. It lives in deep fast-fl owing rivers. The bulbous ‘ghara’ on the tip of the snout of mature males just above the nostrils, helps in creating a snorting hiss to advertise the animal’s presence, and dominance. Gharials nest between March to May. Female gharials excavate egg chambers in sand banks, depositing up to an average of 60 eggs, which hatch in 90 days. Gharials guard their eggs and young ones as long as they are not unusually disturbed by humans. Gharials are endemic to the Indian sub-continent. Once found abundantly in all the major river systems of South Asia, the Gharial is now extinct in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Bhutan. Nepal has only a remnant breeding population. In India too, the major breeding populations are confined to two rivers only, Girwa and the Chambal. The two rivers run along the borders of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. A few non-breeding populations exist in small pockets in other rivers in India. Gharial is listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. Between 2007-2008, over 100 Gharials in the Chambal perished in a mystery die-off attributed to a nephro-toxin possibly originating from contaminated fish in the Yamuna. The Gharial is under increasing pressure for survival due to a combination of factors like: • Habitat alteration and destruction: A combination of land-use changes and exploitation such as sand-mining, riverside agriculture, livestock grazing, and hydrological modifications such as building of dams for water diversion. • Prey depletion: Over harvesting of fish stocks. Construction of dams and barrages obstructing dispersal and migration of fish. • Direct mortality: Drowning of Gharial in fishing nets. Its nest destruction and local egg collection. • Pollution and siltation: Pollution and siltation of rivers damage fish stocks, and are also believed to be the direct cause of the catastrophic die off of 2007-2008 in the Chambal. • Hunting: In the past, Gharial was hunted for skin, trophies and use in indigenous medicine. By 1976, the population of Gharial had plummeted to less than 200 individuals. Getting alarmed, the Government of India subsequently accorded the highest level of protection to Gharial by bringing it under Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972. In 1976, Project Crocodile was with support from the United Nations Development Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization. The project included an intensive captive rearing and breeding programme intended to restock depleted Gharial habitats. Source :- http://www.moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Gharial%20booklet_MoEF.pdf This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.