Rajesh Kumar Behera in Kendrapara, Orissa
A week- long ban is going to be imposed on tourists and visitors not to throng to Bhitarkanika National Park from coming 31st December,09 to 8th January, 2010 as the forest department will conduct annual head count drive of Salt Water (Estuarine) crocodile in the water bodies of the Bhitarkanika National park, said P.K.Behera, the DFO of Rajnagar Mangrove (Forest) and wildlife Division. The prohibition orders on the visitors are going to be imposed with an aim to prevent the noise pollution during the census drive, said Behera. The tourists swarming over the park area will also be restricted for the seven days to facilitate census operation of salt water crocodiles, added Behera .
According to official sources, the salt water crocodile being amphibious in nature can be counted directly both on land, while basking on the river bed ,and on water surfaces while floating. During day time crocs basking on land are easier to count and their size class can be estimated easily and accurately. At night , crocs floating on water or resting on land can be counted by using a spot light and catching the reflected ‘rubby red” glow from their eyes. However either during the day time or night time census, only a proportion of crocs will be visible at any one time, others will submerged on water. This proportion is depend on many factors such as ambient temperature, rain fall, clouds and degree of disturbances.
The wildlife researchers and herpetologists used Global Positioning System (GPS) in the census to arrive at a near-accurate estimate of the crocodiles. Permanent transit lines have been put in position using GPS to coordinate in mapping the rivers and creeks of the park,added official sources.
The forest department also sighted at least 60 nests in the water bodies of National Park during the breeding and nesting time of the crocodile early this year .Each nest sites were enriched with 50-60 eggs.
The forest department had also collected 79 eggs from the nests in order to hatch the eggs in the Dangamal crocodile Research centre and later 63 hatchlings emerge from crocodile eggs .The hatchlings reared for three years and then released into the wild . By way of ‘rear & release’ technique, the baby crocs after birth are released in the wild as a part of conservation programme of these endangered species,stated DFO,Behera.
The number of crocodiles in Bhitarkanika river system, has been rising steadily, with the latest census, indicating that more than 1,572 species inhabit the water bodies of Bhitarkanika National Park.
As per the census carried out on January 2009, there are 1572 numbers of Salt water crocodiles, including 1484 inside the Sanctuary and 88 numbers outside the sanctuary .Out of 1572 reptiles 538 numbers were hatchlings,374 were yearlings, whereas the number of juvenile(3 yrs old crocodile)were 256, 144 numbers were sub-adult crocodiles and 260 numbers of adult crocodiles that were sighted by the forest personnels during the 2009 annual census of Salt water crocodile.
Notably in 2008 census , there are 1498 numbers of salt water crocodiles including 1421 inside the Sanctuary and 77 numbers outside the sanctuary, in the Bhitarkanika river system.
