Kendrapara (SunstarTV Bureau): As many as 16 white crocodiles have been spotted in Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park, latest census report released on Monday. Amid this the crocodile population has increased to 1,768 from 95 four decades ago, said reports.
Apart from the 16 white crocodiles in the wild, Bhitarkanika is also home to two members of the species living in captivity in the park’s enclosure, including a 46-year-old female crocodile that shuns mating.
The census team leader Sudhakar Kar informed that, in 1975, the Centre and the UNDP has launched a crocodile conservation programme where only two white crocodiles were seen while the number has increased to 15 last year.
“We were earlier apprehensive of the mortality rate among albino crocodiles but as they have been spotted again, it seems the brackish water bodies of the national park have emerged as a favorable habitation for the reptiles,” he said.
“Estuarine crocodiles are also found in West Bengal’s Sundarbans and mangrove wetlands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands but the population of the reptiles is the highest in Bhitarkanika,” he further added.
According to report, 593 crocodiles are hatchlings, 367 yearlings, 30 juveniles, 152 sub-adults and 336 adults.
