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An "Unholy" River Protects The Last Of These Rare Crocs

Discover the efforts in Chambal River gharial conservation for the critically endangered gharials and their future survival.

Hatchling gharials from multiple females congregate near the dominant male — likely their father — on the territory where they hatched.Credit: Dhritiman Mukherjee

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Dead gharials began washing up on the banks of India’s Chambal River in December 2007. Over the following weeks, the body count grew. By mid-January, the dead reptiles—some the length of two tall men, lined up end to end—numbered in the dozens. By March, more than 110 of the skinny-snouted creatures had been found dead, most along a 30-kilometer (18-mile) stretch of river.

At the time, there were thought to be just 200 to 250 breeding-age gharials (Gavialis gangeticus) left in the world. And while only a dozen or so of the victims had reached reproductive age, many were close. A loss of more than 100 of them represented a major blow for a population already in crisis. Having been classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered even before the die-off began, the species was clearly in trouble—including here on the Chambal, its last ...

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