Mugger Crocodile Census Takes Off In Odisha’s Ganjam

Berhampur: The annual census of ‘mugger’, an endangered crocodile species, took off in Ghodahada reservoir and its adjoining water bodies in Ganjam district on Sunday.

A 49-member team including Forest officials are engaged in the three-day enumeration of the mugger crocodiles which are also known as marsh crocodiles. The reservoir has been divided into 10 segments and the nearby ponds into another 10 segments, according to ACF, Berhampur Ashok Kumar Behera.

Behera said the census is being carried out by the direct sight method from 6 am to 4 pm for 3 days. Two persons have been deployed in each segment with a country boat to avoid creating noise disturbance for the crocodiles. The census is conducted during winter as these reptiles come out and bask in the sun at this time of the year.

As the reservoir area is 4.15 sq km in the monsoon and 3.43 sq km during summer, the  direct count method has been adopted. The mugger population in the area, which was 49 in 2016, increased to 65 last year, Behera said.

He further said the mugger crocodile (Crocodylus Palustris) has the widest distributional range compared to any of the Asian freshwater crocodilian species.

First crocodile census was conducted in the reservoir in 2008. The reservoir, located in the adjoining Lakhari valley in the Eastern Ghats near the border of Ganjam and Gajapati districts, is part of a medium irrigation project on Ghodahada river which was completed in 1977.