Why in News?
Mugger crocodiles (marsh crocodiles) are heavily in the news due to chemical poisoning deaths in Rajasthan and urban displacements caused by heavy monsoon flooding in major cities like Mumbai and Vadodara.
Key Biological Characteristics
- Scientific Name: Crocodylus palustris.
- Common Names: Mugger crocodile, Marsh crocodile, or Broad-snouted crocodile.
- Physical Appearance: They are medium-to-large-sized reptiles characterized by having the broadest snout among all living crocodilian species, strongly resembling the American alligator.
- Size & Lifespan: They grow between 6 to 13 feet on average, and adults can live for up to 70–80 years.
- Burrowing Behaviour: They are well known for digging deep underground burrows to retreat from extreme weather when temperatures drop below 5°C or climb past 38°C.
- Nesting Habitats: Unlike mound-nesting crocodiles, muggers are an egg-laying and hole-nesting species that dig pits in sandbanks during the dry season.
- Dietary Patterns: They are opportunistic apex predators. Juveniles eat insects and small fish, while adults feed on fish, frogs, birds, monkeys, deer, and turtles.
Habitat and Geographical Distribution
- Primary Habitat: Strictly a freshwater species preferring slow-moving environments like marshes, lakes, rivers, hill streams, and artificial village ponds. They can occasionally tolerate coastal saltwater lagoons.
- Global Range: Native across the Indian subcontinent, including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and parts of southeastern Iran. They are considered extinct in Bhutan and Myanmar.
- Core Indian Populations: Distributed across 15 Indian states. The densest populations thrive in the Middle Ganges basin (Bihar/Jharkhand), the Chambal River basin (Madhya Pradesh/Rajasthan), and the urban river systems of Gujarat.
Conservation and Legal Protection Status
- IUCN Red List: Vulnerable.
- Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972: Schedule I (granting it the highest level of legal protection against hunting and trade in India).
- CITES: Appendix I (strictly prohibiting international commercial trade of the species or its parts).
Major Threats
- Chemical Pollution: Agricultural runoff and illegal dumping of toxic chemicals (like the recently discovered Aldrin) poison river ecosystems.
- Habitat Fragmentation: Encroachment of riverbanks, urban construction, sand mining, and drying water bodies break up their natural territories.
- Human-Wildlife Conflict: Due to high human densities surrounding freshwater lakes in states like Gujarat, accidental encounters and attacks on fishermen lead to retaliatory killings.
- Commercial Exploitation: Entanglement in commercial fishing nets, egg poaching, and illegal hunting for alternative medicine markets or skins.
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