KENDRAPARA: Around 2,500 baby saltwater crocodiles have been born in Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district recently.
“This year est officials sighted 122 nests of the estuarine crocodiles. A single female crocodile typically lays a clutch of between 30 and 40 eggs that incubate for 70 -75 days and around 50 per cent of hatchlings are born in each nest. This time, around 20 hatchlings were born from a nest,” said the divisional forest officer (DFO) of Bhitarkanika National Park, Sudarshan Gopinath Yadav.
Out of five hundred baby crocodiles, only one crocodile reaches adulthood, noted herpetologist and former wildlife researcher of the forest department, Odisha Sudhakar Kar said.
The forest officials had imposed a three-month ban on entry to the national park during the nesting period of the reptiles from May 1 to July 31.