The World Crocodile Day was celebrated on 17th June 2024. This year also marks the 50 years of India’s Crocodile Conservation Project.
Key points
- It was back in 1975 that India launched its Crocodile Conservation Project in Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park.
- Since Odisha is recognized for the existence of all the three species of Indian crocodilians, the Gharial and Saltwater crocodile conservation programme was first implemented in Odisha in early 1975 and subsequently, the Mugger conservation programme was initiated.
- The main objective of the crocodile conservation project was to protect the animals’ natural habitat and revive the population quickly through captive breeding as the survival rate of the crocodile hatchlings in nature is low because of predation.
- The estuarine or saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is the largest living reptile on earth.
- The ‘saltie’, the mugger or marsh crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) and the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), are India’s three main species of crocodilians.
- This family consists of 24 species and includes ‘true crocodiles’, alligators, caiman and the gharial.
- The saltie is found in only three locations in the country today: Bhitarkanika, the Sundarbans and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
