Gharials are a species of crocodile – only about 200 are thought to be living in the wilds of Nepal.
With a far more slender snout than other crocodiles, these animals are easily spotted.
So what happened? In the Chitwan national park, there is the Kasara gharial breeding centre. This centre has worked for the last 43 years to try to save the Gharial from extinction. In the mid 1970s the wild population fell to less than 300 individuals. Between 1981 and 2017, 1246 Gharials born in captivity have been released. This is because local people have at times stolen all eggs found (in order to eat).
Unfortunately the fence of the enclosure has not been well maintained, allowing a tiger to enter. In this instant, the Tiger managed to kill 3 Gharials, by the time that staff arrived, it had also eaten one of the crocodilians.
This breeding centre currently collects eggs laid in the wild. The Gharials are then hatched in captivity and raised until they are about 5 years old, when they can defend themselves more successfully in the wild. Hopefully, at some point this population will successfully return to its former size and this “nursery” will no longer be necessary.
Bhutan is the only tiger range country which managed to double the number of tigers that live within its borders over the last 12 years (some others came close).
This is abnormal behaviour. Clearly, breeding centres must make sure that they are tiger proof – however, we do not need to worry that all the wild Gharials are to be eaten – tigers far prefer the standard prey species such as various species of deer. They are intelligent and adaptive animals so if given the chance will take what every prey is available.
However, what is clear, is that the Tiger is not like the Jaguar, who will hunt the Caiman with purpose at times of flood when other food is scarce.
While tigers may continue to take the occasional Gharial, this threat is nothing compared to habitat destruction, or disturbance of their habitat.
There are currently 93 tigers in this reserve.
