It has indeed been sometime since I have posted updates on The Wildlife Chronicles. Well, it has been a busy round of surveys through March and April. It was interesting surveying Boksar this time round specially while counting the gharial population here.
Winter rain and a full reservoir with not much water being let out of the dam created new habitat parameters here and most of the shoreline remained submerged while what was available covered with lots of grasses and trees.
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| The reservoir backwater extending quite a bit into Boksar submerging a large part of the shoreline |
Gharial seemed to be a bit choosy while selecting areas to bask in instead of just finding any spot to sit in and soak in the sun. Infact the adult gharial seemed to prefer banks with vegetation located in sheltered coves along the shoreline. Surprising in itself but also understandable as most of the sandy areas were underwater!!!
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| An adult male gharial basking on a bank on the shoreline |
Well, knowing about the mugger population here is equally important and we have started counting the mugger here from this year onwards. Knowing which of these crocodile species is increasing in the area as well as knowing which species number more would be important baselines for further research and conservation initiatives here.
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| The mugger crocodile in Boksar |
To continue with our field surveys in Corbett so as to understand more about the crocodile population here we have received support from The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo this year. The Chicago Zoological Society, The Pittsburgh Zoo and The Columbus Zoo have continued with their valuable support for our work in Corbett and we are very thankful to all for enabling us to take this important work forward.
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