Rare BD crocodile lays eggs in new hope for species!

DHAKA: A rare river-dwelling crocodile has started to lay eggs after being paired with an introduced male, Bangladesh conservationists said on Sunday, raising hopes a successful hatching could save the critically endangered species from extinction.

The South Asian nation, with its vast network of rivers, was once a key habitat for the gharial, a fish-eating crocodile distinctive for its lengthy body and long, thin snout.

But today they are virtually extinct in Bangladesh and the few which are seen likely made their way downstream from India. A male gharial, a 41-year-old named "Gorai", was brought from the capital Dhaka to a zoo in the northwestern city of Rajshahi in 2017 in the hope he would mate with a 35-year-old female called "Padma".

The reptiles are named after tributaries of the Ganges river. "When we introduced them, there were fears these old gharials may have lost the urge to mate," Sarowar Alam, who heads the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Bangladesh gharial project, told AFP.

The species usually only breed until the age of around 50. "But not only have they mated, she has also laid eggs," he added. Rajshahi zoo curator Farhad Uddin said two eggs found last week were rotten, damaged after the crocs’ enclosure was flooded during heavy rains.