29 gharial hatchlings found on Mahanadi sandbar in Satkosia | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: In a cheer for wildlife lovers, officials of the wildlife wing on Monday discovered 29 hatchlings of the endangered gharial on a sandbar in the Mahanadi gorge in Satkosia Tiger Reserve. This is the fifth consecutive year the forest department reported natural breeding of gharials at the same nesting ground.“To avoid any kind of disturbance during nesting, nobody has been allowed to venture into the gorge. After four days, we will be able to observe them directly. This time also, it is the same nesting site at Balabadamara under Tikarpada range,” said divisional forest officer (Satkosia), Saroj Panda.Usually, the nesting occurs between March and May every year, but the survival rate of gharial hatchlings is 0.1%, the same as that of Olive Ridley sea turtles, officials said.In Feb, the gharial census revealed the numbers in the wild increased by two compared to last year, reaching 16 in the Mahanadi gorge. Satkosia is the only place in the state where gharials breed in the wild. It also houses a Gharial Research and Conservation Unit (Gracu).In Jan last year, Nandankanan zoo, which is involved in Satkosia’s gharial recovery programme, extended the four-year planned breeding project by another three years after a year’s gap. The four-year project was from 2019 to 2022.“It is an indication of improvement in habitat that gharials increased by two in the wild. This time also, breeding was successful. Gharials are sensitive aquatic animals, and their survival rate in the wild is very low,” said chief wildlife warden Prem Kumar Jha.
