Nik's Photography

Crazy about crocodiles!

Steve Irvin, the greatest crocodile hunter of all time, needs no introduction. His love for animals knew no limits. Long has he inspired many to follow the path of love and peace towards all animals, to live in peace and harmony. Steve used to say “Every cent we earn from Crocodile Hunter goes straight back into conservation. Every single cent.” The most humble and honest conversation specialist I’ve ever known.

The Gharial Crocodile
Crocodiles are truly an endangered species. Especially the long nosed Gharial Crocodiles of India. It has been rated as “critically endangered” by the IUCN. The Indian Gharial or gavial is known to have elongated and narrow snouts of up to three to four meters long. They’re considered to be the one of the longest of crocodiles in the world. They tend to grow as long as 5 to 6 meters in length. They grown thinner as they grow old.

Natural Habitat of the Gharial Crocodile
Gharial crocodiles prefer to remain in the calm, deep areas of the swift moving Indian rivers. The few rare sights of a Gharial Crocodile outside water would be when he is either basking in the sun or is on a nest on the sandbanks or rivers.

Diet

The young Gharial Crocodiles eat small invertebrates such as larvae or insects, whereas the adult crocs tend to have their plates full of mostly fish, although some crocodiles also tend to scavenge dead animals. Their elongated snout, or nose, is ideally the perfect weapon to prey fishes. They can easily mover in the water with almost no resistance and then snap fishes with swiping motions. Their set of articulately aligned teeth provide them great grip onto struggling fishes.

Reproduction:

The mating season for the Gharials is usually through November to all the way to January. The crocs tend to nest and lay eggs on the drier and warmer seasons in India in the months of March, April and May. On a normal mating session, around 30 to 40 eggs are laid into a hole, that is later carefully covered up by the female Gharial.

Kingdom : Animalia
Scientific Name : Gavialis gangeticus
Class : Sauropsida
Order : Crocodilia
Family : Gavialidae
Genus : Gavialis
Species : G. gangeticus
Diet : Mainly Fish
Length : 5 m to 6 m
Mating Season : November to January
Clutch Size : 30 to 50 eggs
Incubation Period : 90 days

The Crocodile Zoo at Chennai:

Chennai is one of the largest metropolitan cities of India, harboring a population of almost 14cr. But unlike Mumbai, Chennai offers proper sanitarium to Wildlife, perhaps one of the best in India.

More about the Gharial Crocodile Photograph:

This is one of the photographs from Chennai’s famous snake park. The Snake Park is situated at the Mandakulam area of Downtown Chennai. The snake park consists of a wide variety of snakes not seen in any other Indian zoos. Also it is the home to about 20 Crocodiles and more than 100 types of Snakes. Also they house reptiles. The crocs have been provided wide areas, and are taken care of very beautifully. There are hourly shows in an Arena in the middle of the park where the local snake catchers conduct educational shows with the help different type of snakes. This is a great way to remove the popular myths that developed in India from the past generations.

Chennai is known for its Beaches and places of worship. The wildlife preservation implemented in the city is one of the best in the in India. C