The Gharial

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Young

Before they lay their eggs, females will dig trial holes in the sandy bank to make sure they choose a proper spot to lay their eggs. They make holes every night until they are able to lay their eggs and then they choose one of the many they created (Gharial Conservation Alliance, n.a.). Around March and April, the females start to make these nests. Females reach maturity at the age of 10 and are then able to lay eggs. Gharials lay around 40 to 80 eggs depending on maturity. The more mature the gharial, the more eggs she will lay. There have been recordings of females laying up to 100 at a time. The incubation time for one egg is around 70 days depending on the weather and they may hatch sooner if the weather is warmer (Gharial Conservation Alliance, n.a.). The sand helps keep the eggs warm and also hides them from potential predators. An interesting fact about the eggs is that the temperature of the incubation can determine the sex. It is said that the “incubation temperatures of 31 ºC or less and 33 ºC or greater produce females. Constant incubation temperature of 32 ºC produces males” (Gharial Conservation Alliance, n.a.). When the eggs are hatching, the young gharials will call to their mother from inside the egg and the mother then starts to dig them out. Once hatched, the babies will stay alongside their mother for a couple months until either separated by currents or when they are old enough.

Endangerment

Currents are one of the main causes of why younger juvenile gharials die because they are not able to take care of themselves if taken from their mother too soon. This has caused their population numbers decline slowly because there are not as many young to replace the old. However, this is not the only issue or the leading cause. Causes such as habitat destruction and poaching are very serious and have lead to the major decline of the gharial. Sand mining is a large portion of their endangerment because when the sand is being taken away, the gharials have no place to lay their eggs and therefore are not able to incubate the eggs properly. Hunting has also greatly affected the gharial population. They are mainly hunted for their gharas, which have been said to have aphrodisiac properties, skin for fashion, and eggs for medicinal purposes. What are also common are the gharials getting caught in fishing nets and drowning because of it. Overall, humans have been, and still are, the main causes for the gharials near extinction.

Conservation

The Gharial Conservation Alliance has been working for decades to get the gharials back to a promising population number. Ever since they had a near extinction in the 1970s, it has been a long road to recovery. The number of gharials after the 1970 decline was a whopping number of 60 in all of India. After this incident, the GCA has been creating laws against poaching and even has patrol officers near the sites to make sure no one is hunting them. However, the gharials are still not prospering as they once were and the main issue is because their habitat is being destroyed. The conservation alliance has helped with preventing the gharial’s habitat destruction by either protecting the sand banks from sand mining companies or replacing the sand after it has been taken away. While doing this, they also find proper drop sites to release the gharials they have kept in captivity. There are many different sanctuaries that house and breed gharials to release them later in the wild. Efforts to save the gharials are large but not many have been helping in the long run. The Gharial Conservation Alliance has been working hard to bring the gharials back to their original population.

Gharials are beautiful creatures that have been hunted and cheated from their homes since the 1970s. Since then, their numbers have been plummeting and it is becoming more and more difficult to keep them from extinction. By learning where they live, how they act, reproduce, grow, and how they are becoming closer to extinction, there will be more things done to keep them alive and prospering.

References

Smithsonian National Zoological Park. n.a. Gharial. Retrieved from https://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Gharial.cfm

Bouchard, K. 2009. Gavialis Gangeticus. Retrieved from http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/gavialis_gangeticus/

Gharial Conservation Alliance. n.a. Retrieved from http://www.gharialconservationalliance.org/

San Diego Zoo. 2008. Gharial: Gavialis Gangeticus. Retrieved from http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/gharial/gharial.htm