KENDRAPARA: MUCH to the delight of the wildlife researchers, the 41-year-old rare albino crocodile Gori laid 40 eggs in her pen at Dangamal within Bhitarkanika National Park on Sunday.
Forest officials said though it is good news that Gori has laid eggs after almost four decades, it will be clear after two weeks if the eggs have embryo or not. A female crocodile can lay eggs till the age of 70, but some times they lay infertile eggs.
Gori is eight feet long and has whitish patches over its body. The rare reptile has been caged in a pen inside the Dangamal Crocodile Research Centre in Bhitarkanika National Park for the last 41 years since its birth in 1975. Mating attempts were made at least five times in the past few years, but the reptile rejected the male partner each time.
She had left three crocodiles injured when attempts were made for mating in 1994, 1995 and 1998. In 1998, left eye of the white crocodile was damaged in a fight with a male crocodile following which, forest officials shelved the plans for mating of the rare crocodile.
“Last month, a male crocodile entered the pond, where Gori has been kept, for mating. She is now guarding the eggs that would hatch in August,” said Forest Range Officer of the park, Akshya Kumar Nayak.
Meanwhile, the forest officials have spotted 70 crocodile nests in the Park and its nearby areas during the ongoing nesting season. They have also counted 1,671 crocodiles during the annual reptile census this year in Bhitarkanika. Gori, bred by the Forest Department as a part of crocodile conservation programme, was the mascot for the National Youth Festival at Bhubaneswar in 2010.