KENDRAPARA: Gharials have been found travelling several hundred kilometers in Mahanadi - sometimes through the tributaries to reach as far as Kendrapara- into unknown territories charting new routes, a latest survey has revealed. Wildlife biologists who monitored the endangered species through satellite transmitters saw that the gharials dispersed in both upstream (up to 190 km in Sambalpur) and downstream (up to 207 km in Kendrapara) from the release point at Satkosia gorge.
At least 17 gharials including six males and 11 females between five and 16 years of age were released in Mahanadi under the Forest department’s ‘Recovery of Gharial in the river Mahanadi’ scheme in June, 2019. Earlier, 13 gharials were tagged with radio transmitters for post-release monitoring. Last year, four adult gharials were tagged with satellite transmitters and released in the river.
Some gharials returned establishing Satkosia gorge as the most suitable habitat for them, informed project advisor and noted herpetologist Prof Sudarsan Maharana who was involved in breeding of gharials in captivity in Nandankanan Zoological Park during 1980s. However, five released gharials including one male and four females died. Three died due to blasting in the river by unscrupulous persons to catch fish, one was killed by a mugger and another by entanglement in a nylon fishing net.
Of the gharials which were released in Mahanadi on December 2 last year, one moved downstream (around 57 km) but its jaws were caught in a torn fishing net. Unable to eat, it was reportedly swimming erratically in water. The gharial was located on the left bank of Mahanadi at Padamal in Athagarh on December 20. It was caught the next day.
Under the scheme, 28 hatchlings were born from a nest inside the ‘No Fishing Zone’ area of Satkosia gorge. Of the total hatchlings, three were swept away in flood. On October 22 last year, a baby gharial was caught in the net of a fisherman in Birupa river near Choti village in Kendrapara district. On August 29, another baby gharial was caught by a fisherman in Paika river in Kendrapara.
Moharana said gharials are not a danger to human beings unlike saltwater crocodiles. Many persons wrongly equate gharials with the estuarine crocodiles as a result of which their lives are now in danger. The study found the ways in which nylon fishing net kills the gharials and how to save the crocodiles in river systems.