EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Watch Those Eyes!

Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), Family Gavialidae
Rapti River, Chitwan District, Nepal

Explanation:  As we pirogued down the Rapti River in the Chitwan District of southern Nepal, we noticed that we were being followed.  Or, maybe stalked is a better term.  

Keep those hands and feet in the boat, folks.  This is a large adult gharial whose territory we are crossing.  

We had encountered gharials before, in northern India, but more from afar.  This time, we are on the same level as these ancient and wonderful crocodilians.  

Heavily persecuted, gharial populations now survive only in large river systems of Nepal and India, and have been exterminated from their previous range in Bhutan, Myanmar, and Pakistan, and may be only just surviving in Bangladesh.  In Nepal, Royal Chitwan National Park -- the site for this week's photos -- began a Gharial Conservation Project in 1981, but survival of introduced individuals is quite low.  

A recent study noted that major threats to gharials, here in the Rapti River in Chitwan, include industrial waste toxins, domestic sewage, and habitat disturbance from monsoon flash floods, and that conservation measures need to proceed and even increased to maintain or restore the species and their fish prey.

Still -- and, regardless of the fact that gharials are basically fish-eaters -- it is best not to harass or entice them with dangling fingers and toes.  And watch those eyes! 
  

Information:
    Neupane, B., B.K. Singh, P. Poudel, S. Panthi, and N.D. Khatri.  2020.  Habitat occupancy and threat assessment of gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) in the Rapti River, Nepal.  Global Ecology and Conservation 24:e01270.