Not a Safe Place to Cross

Explanation: Lurking in the murky waters is what looks like a log ... but before you cross, take a clearer look (mouse over the above photo!).

Yes, that's no log ... it is a gharial, a most unusual member of the order of crocodiles. It is unusual enough to have been placed into its own family.

We are in northern India in Corbett National Park, so-named for the famous shikari British hunter Jim Corbett who, in the late 19th and early 20 centuries, kept thousands of local villagers safer by dispatching tigers and leopards that had turned to man-eating. This was in the day when the big cats roamed free and themselves numbered in the many thousands.

But here skulks not a cat, but a reptile of enormous -- and odd -- proportions. Some mature gharials can reach 20-23 feet (6-7 m) in length!

Note the long narrow snout, quite unlike its crocodilian cousins the mugger, the salt-water crocodile, the American alligator, and others. This is a beast designed to catch fish ... but its 100+ sharp teeth have also been known to foster fear, although actual attacks on people seem to be few and far between. Accounts of finding jewelry in their stomachs have been attributed to gharials possibly scavenging on human corpses.

Note the bulbous growth at the tip of the long snout.
This occurs only in mature males, and is called a "ghara" (which is Hindi for "pot").
It might serve as a resonance chamber to carry vocalizations
and also as a sign of sexual maturity to entice mates.

Gharials are critically endangered and found in the greater Indian subcontinent, and persist mostly in protected reserves and remote locations such as this river.

EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week