Gharial on the brink of extinction (again)

I fear for the Gharial as well,
Not only the Gharial but the False Gharial I'm worried about too, though not a true Gharial, no specimens have been found for quite some time the last I think was a juvinile captured by Brady Barr trying to break a world record,

I'd hate to see the crocodilian species go extinct, other species are going as well, Siamese crocodiles and Phllipines Crocs are getting quite rare,

Since 2004 (I think) no Siamese crocodile had been recorded in 50 years,

The good news though is that Chinese Alligators are beginning to flourish, the captive breeding is blooming,
 
Please read the links I provided carefully. The captive breeding of Gharials isn't a problem, also in local projects. The main problem is the rapid destruction of the habitat, which requires a new approach. Ex-situ breeding does not do the trick here.

Tomistomas have been found and caught in the wild also in recent time (also popping up on the exotic pet market), although their elusive life-style ( the local name = "shy crocodile") and decline of population makes this more difficult.
Tomistoma Task Force

However, it's the Gharial that is now in desperate need of help. Please spread the word and do Your share. Thanks
 
Last edited:
Thanks, my parents are from Malaysia Sarawak but are Chinese,
(just another point)
They usually talk about that the False Gharial being sacred and people fear and curse from the Slatwater croc,
 
I saw three wild gharials on a short stretch of the Narayani river in Nepal in 2007. The river marks the northern boundary of Chitwan National Park. There is a captive breeding program based in the Park but lack of protected habitat is a problem. It would help to extend the boundary of the Park to include the northern bank of the river.
 
Just putting it out there but I heard there is a subspecies of Gharial that splits the Gharials that live more south and the ones that live up north near Nepal is that true?
 
dragon(ele)nerd said:
Just putting it out there but I heard there is a subspecies of Gharial that splits the Gharials that live more south and the ones that live up north near Nepal is that true?
Click to expand...

No, not as far as I know. There are separate populations, but to my knowledge none considered worthy of subspecies status. Even if it was discovered that some population was worthy of subspecies status it is unlikely anything at that level could be saved. The wild populations aren't doing too good and could be extinct in the wild soon and the captives (which are doing a lot better...just too bad that there soon may be no place to release them to in the wild!) have been mixed completely from different populations.
 
MARK said:
Maybe they should bring a few captive bred Gharials over to Australia for a captive breeding program, we have the know-how with our own species so that should give us a leg up with breeding other croc species :cool:
Click to expand...

Well, I suppose that it is something worth considering. Indian zoos are actually looking at establishing links to other regions and happy to provide stock for overseas gharial captive-breeding (next to being supportive of in situ conservation - a big conference has just recently been held in India to deal with conservation breeding and in situ support).

On another note: in EAZA zoos support is slowly gathering for investing more resources into endangered crocodilian species. Those that have programmes now are Tomistoma, Osteolaemus, Alligator sinensis (allthough temporarily downgraded due to zoos' lack of direction/cooperation), C. mindorensis and G. gangeticus (embryonic stage).

Species that I think warrant the same treatment inside EAZA are C. siamensis and C. rhombifer - both of whom are threatened with extinction in the wild and whose captive populations (also in situ) are subject to hybridisation with C. porosus.

The South American taxa C. moreletti and C. acutus are not well-represented in EAZA zoos and I would personally like to see the few crocs of these species be relocated to US or Central American zoos for investment into their captive-breeding programmes (well I know Krokodille Zoo keeps them ...).
 
Thanks for the info before,

hmm, there was a documentery I saw once with Brady Barr he said that there are large plans for future captive breeding, in a few years or so he plans to help create more breeding ponds that are already present in certain places of india,
 
Yes, gharial is not easy to save. Apparently they found that many gharials released as young grew and have unsuitable habitat to breed.

Gharial needs large rivers with wide sandbars and little polluted water. Together with several other Indian species (Ganges &Indus river dolphins, several birds like Indian skimmer and black-bellied tern and several big fish). Protecting that is difficult, especially that you must protect also water quality upstream. Challenging in a country like India with rapid industrializing and poor law enforcement.
 
Jurek7 said:
Yes, gharial is not easy to save. Apparently they found that many gharials released as young grew and have unsuitable habitat to breed.

Gharial needs large rivers with wide sandbars and little polluted water. Together with several other Indian species (Ganges &Indus river dolphins, several birds like Indian skimmer and black-bellied tern and several big fish). Protecting that is difficult, especially that you must protect also water quality upstream. Challenging in a country like India with rapid industrializing and poor law enforcement.
Click to expand...

The hope that something definite may change is there since the EAZA Turtle Campaign has over recent years been co-financing research on turtle conservation on the Chambal River. Habitat encroachment, over-fishing, over-consumption (of turtles ... I am afraid), poor law enforcement and pollution
have all taken their toll on wild stocks. The head-starting and reintroduction efforts have thus concentrated next to better rearing facilities into real ad effective community involvement. Quite a few turtle-poachers have been enlisted as rangers cum informers and have made some significant inroads into promoting better turtle conservation and improved attachment to some rare turtle taxa on the river system.

The same issues plague gharial re-establishment and the recent conservation breeding conference in Delhi has already amalgamated the captive community into positive action for gharial conservation. It is no secret that quite a few unrelated (and a genetically healthy population to that) gharials are available for redistribution outside the immediate confines of release projects inside India. Secondly, these satellite gharial programmes overseas may assist with garnering support and assist in locating sufficient funding for the in situ conservation effort.

There is even talk of a EAZA crocodile campaign somewhere in the not too distant future (like I said it is a family grouping that deserves far more attention from the captive community overseas than is currently the case). The embryonic croc programmes in EAZA are slowly developping and several private individuals and reptilaria are spear-heading the effort.

For some species like Tomistoma much still needs to improve in respect to croc husbandry and housing. Some Tomistoma are kept without access to sandy beaches for egg-laying, others lack a deep enough pool to breed ... (size obviously matters in these fish-eating reptiles as they can grow to 3-4 meters).

Chinese alligators need special husbandry requirements (hibernation being paramount and despite the setback at Rotterdam ... EAZA zoos should continue to try and replicate the very conditions they breed so successfully at Anhui Province, PR of China.

Like I said, the issue with C. mindorensis, C. siamensis and C. rhombifer is hybridisation in captivity! Pure stocks of C. mindorensis have been sorted out, but the problem persists in C. siamensis (C. porosus) and C. rhombifer (C. acutus). I have a severe polemic with this guy in NL who seems so headstrong in believing the captive-breeding efforts in situ are absolutely fine and we really do not need to invest in crocodile captive programmes (ignorance is sure no bliss). :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top