• America’s largest reptile sanctuary, The Phoenix Herpetological Society has requested a permit to import 6 gharials and 6 crocodiles from Madras Crocodile Bank Trust.

ABOUT GHARIAL

• Habitat- It is a fresh-water crocodile which lives in deep fast-flowing rivers.
• It has a very long and narrow snout.
• Globally Gharial is found only in India and Nepal.
• In India their major population occur in three tributaries of the Ganga River: the Chambal and the Girwa Rivers in India and the Rapti-Naryani River in Nepal.
• The Gharial reserves of India are located in three States – Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• Protection status
  • IUCN red list: Critically endangered.
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
  • CITES: Appendix I

ABOUT MUGGER CROCODILE

• It is mainly restricted to the Indian subcontinent and is found in a number of freshwater habitat types and also in coastal saltwater lagoons and estuaries.
• It is already extinct in Bhutan and Myanmar.
• It is an egg-laying and hole-nesting species, known to be dangerous.
• Threats include habitat destruction, fragmentation, and transformation, fishing activities and use of crocodile parts for medicinal purposes.
• Protection Status:
  • IUCN red list: Vulnerable
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I