Has anybody here seen wild tomistomas?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I was wandering through the LA Zoo today and stopped to admire how cool tomistomas are.

Has anybody here seen tomistomas in the wild? Chlidonias viewed wild gharials on his expedition to India, but I don't recall anyone here reporting on seeing their tomistoma cousins in the wild.

If you have seen them, do you have any advice for where a good place to see wild tomistomas is?
 
Nobody has seen wild tomistomas? I've scoured the internet for Asian wildlife safari companies that have tomistoma watching in their expeditions and nothing has shown up, nor any reports by wildlife travelers. They appear to be completely off the wildlife-watching radar, which seems odd for such a charismatic and large animal. Presumably they are hard to find and see.
 
DavidBrown said:
Nobody has seen wild tomistomas? I've scoured the internet for Asian wildlife safari companies that have tomistoma watching in their expeditions and nothing has shown up, nor any reports by wildlife travelers. They appear to be completely off the wildlife-watching radar, which seems odd for such a charismatic and large animal. Presumably they are hard to find and see.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen any, but I think I know that peat swamps in Malaysia are a good spot to look.
 
DavidBrown said:
Nobody has seen wild tomistomas? I've scoured the internet for Asian wildlife safari companies that have tomistoma watching in their expeditions and nothing has shown up, nor any reports by wildlife travelers. They appear to be completely off the wildlife-watching radar, which seems odd for such a charismatic and large animal. Presumably they are hard to find and see.
Click to expand...

They are very rare throughout most of its range. Apparently they were only "rediscovered" in the heavily visited Ujong Kulon NP in W Java 15 years ago. This paper: The current and historic distribution of Tomistoma schlegelii (the false gharial) (Muller, 1838) (Crocodylia, Reptilia)
mentions that the only place where this species is probably abundant is Tanjung Puting NP in Indonesian Borneo, a place which is popular for its Orangutans but even tripadvisor people can find them there, so would probably be the best place to look: this croc is real and alive - Picture of Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Kalimantan - TripAdvisor
 
lintworm said:
This paper: The current and historic distribution of Tomistoma schlegelii (the false gharial) (Muller, 1838) (Crocodylia, Reptilia)
mentions that the only place where this species is probably abundant is Tanjung Puting NP in Indonesian Borneo, a place which is popular for its Orangutans but even tripadvisor people can find them there, so would probably be the best place to look: this croc is real and alive - Picture of Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Kalimantan - TripAdvisor
Click to expand...
Nice - that place was on my to-go list already for White-bearded Gibbon!
 
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