Bijnor: A survey will be carried out to track critically endangered gharials released into Ganga to assess whether the fish-eating crocodiles have adapted to the wild and begun to breed, officials said on Sunday.
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“The survey will determine the number, size and health of gharials, and how far they have moved from the sites where they were released,” said DFO Jai Singh Kushwah. Gharials have long, narrow snouts that distinguish them from crocodiles, and adults can grow up to about five metres long and mainly eat fish. Download the TOI App.
Since WWF began the programme in 2009, more than 950 captive-bred gharials have been released into the Ganga in the Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary area. In 2019, 60 gharials, including 50 females and 10 males, were released towards Muzaffarnagar. Around two years ago, another 75 gharials—58 females and 17 males—were released in Meerut.
The forest department and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) will conduct the survey between Bijnor Ganga Barrage and Narora Barrage in Bulandshahr after the river’s water level falls following the monsoon.