Soon, saltwater crocodile census to be conducted in the Sunderbans

Kolkata: After more than a decade, the state Forest department will be conducting a census of saltwater crocodiles in the Sunderbans at the end of January 2024. The department is optimistic about having a healthy population of reptiles in the archipelago.

“The three-day survey will be based on direct sighting. Several teams will be formed which will be wading across multiple creeks of the islands on vessels in pre-defined stretches for the exercise. There will be at least one spotter and one confirmer in each team which is the standard practice,” Debal Roy, state Chief Wildlife Warden said.

B C Choudhury, formerly associated with the Wildlife Institute of India and known for his expertise in crocodiles, will be leading the census.

Senior officials of the department will soon sit for a meeting to finalise the total number of teams and the standard operating procedure to be followed while conducting the exercise.

“Crocodiles are cold-blooded reptiles that thermoregulate by sunning themselves. Adults need to maintain a stable body temperature in the preferred range of 30–32 degrees Celsius. In the summers, crocodiles bask in the morning and evening — retreating to the water when the sun is sharp. But in winter, they bask from morning until the sun sets, warming their bodies as much as they can. So chances of sighting are much higher, “ a senior official of the state Forest department said.

In 2012, the first and only survey on saltwater crocodiles in the Sunderbans that was conducted under the leadership of Choudhury put the figure at 99.

The saltwater crocodile is the largest and heaviest living reptile in the world. Males can grow up to 20 feet and weigh over 1,000 kg. The largest one recorded in India, in Bhitarkanika National Park, Odisha, was 22 feet long. Its skull is displayed in the national park’s museum.

Anecdotal information places the largest known saltwater crocodile from India in the Sundarbans. In his book, ‘The Last of the Ruling Reptiles: Alligators, Crocodiles, and Their Kin,’ WT Neill writes about a ‘Bengal Giant’ — a saltwater crocodile he saw towards the end of British rule, which he claimed was at least 30-feet-long.