cry of the crocodile ( Gharial)

This time when i visited Alipur Zoo, i again met with these magnificent reptiles called ‘Gharial’. Though i have already seen them at Madras Crocodile Bank a few years back but they don’t fail to amaze me with their uniqueness. They have a typical long and slender snout that no other crocodile have. Moreover they have a swelling present at the top of male’s snout which people relate to ‘ghara’ or earthen pot. That is why it is called grarial. They pose no threat to human still they are endangered and rare in throughout their home range.

Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is the oldest of the crocodiles. They were found in the river systems of Ganges, Irrawardy, Indus and Brahmaputra within the borders of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. But currently they have only two viable breeding populations at National Chambal Sanctuary in India and Chitwan National Park in Nepal. Other few fragmented population can be found in a few places but they don’t breed. Several factors are pushing them towards extinction like poaching, egg harvesting etc but none is as destructive as habitat destruction. These crocodiles are typical habitant of rivers. Building dams on rivers dries out the river in downstream side of the dam. As this creates a shortage in fish population, the gharials face starvation as they are totally dependent on fishes. They occasionally take turtles, birds or corpses but fish is their main prey. Even among fishes, gharials prey upon predatory fishes. Where ever the gharial population has decreased in size, local Fishermen have witnessed a decreased in their fish catch as increase in predatory fish decreases the number of edible fishes. In the upstream section of the dam the problem is different. Here water floods a huge area submerging the sand banks and river islands crucial for gharial nesting. Though gharial population have increased in number from 240 in 1974 to approx 2500 now but still there is a possibility of extinction as there are only 20 breeding males are in wild. Males reach maturity at a length of 3m and an age of 13-14yrs. Females reach maturity at an earlier age, at 2.5m length and 8.5yrs of age. They can reach a maximum length of 6.75m and have lived for 29 yrs in captivity.

A captive breeding and rearing program have been initiated. Gharial eggs are hatched in artificial hatcheries and then released back into wild habitats. This is seeing a bit of success but without protecting its habitat it won’t take us long to witness the extinction of another marvellous animal.

Deadly affair (common indian krait)

On this evening, I was browsing internet in my room, suddenly I heard some people talking about some snake. It seemed like somebody have spotted some snake. So I grabbed a light and rushed to the spot. 3-4 people have gathered in front of the house beside our house. They told me that someone saw a black snake when she was entering the house and came out of the house. I thought it would be common wolf snake as always. I entered the house. It had a small varandah at the entrance and then there is the gate is the gate of the bedroom. One side of the varandah was filled with coconut, what an ideal place for a snake, and the other side had some bricks stored. After a while, fortunately i found the snake in the brick stack.


I was surprised. I never imagined it to be a krait and there it was a common Indian krait waiting behind the bricks. This is my first krait sighting. I quickly told the people to get a strong stick and get some more light. I secured the head with stick and was about to catch the snake, suddenly a over-enthusiast man showed up with a big log in his hand. He didn’t hear anybody and straight tried to kill the snake. I was in an awkward situation. With one hand I was holding the stick with which I had secured the head of the snake and with the other hand I was trying to cover the blows made with the big log. The most terrifying thing was that the snake is no ordinary snake, it is the most venomous snake of asia. After a few blows the man paused for a second and I quickly captured the snake and started walking straight to my house. I put it in a plastic jar and kept it in a secure place.


Common Indian krait or Bungarus caeruleus is a nocturnal snake. In the daytime it is a very lazy and timid snake but at night a sharp contrast in behaviour can be seen. It becomes very active, alert and dangerous. In the daytime it generally rests in termite mounds, rodent burrows, stacks of bricks, rubbles or even inside household items like rolled up carpets. This snake is so well adopted in various habitats that it is found in almost all of India except Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh. It is mainly found in fields, low scrub jungles and even in marshy lands. It is also found near human habitation and often enters inside houses. This particular behaviour makes it more dangerous. Some time people get bitten unknowingly when they are asleep. Their bite is not as painful as cobra or viper bite but it is far more virulent than the two (it is 15 times more potent than the cobra). Its venom is both neurotoxic and heamotoxic. It is the MOST VENEMOUS snake of India. Bite from this snake must be treated at hospital with antivenom serum. Otherwise death will come in 5 to 12 hours. Symptoms are like cobra bite, drooping eyelid, severe abdominal pain, vomiting and respiratory problem. Usually the cause of death is respiratory failure.

It is a cannibalistic snake. It usually eats other snake often of the same species. It also eats frogs, lizards and mouse. It attains a maximum length of 1.73 m but average size is 1.2m. the specimen i caught was around 1m in length. May be due to their cannibalistic nature at the time of mating, they first carry out an examination of each other and then settles down together. Mating occurs in February- march. Kraits also stay with the eggs like the cobras.

After a few days I planned to release the Krait. But finding a suitable place was a real headache. There was no suitable place remote enough to release the snake. I had to travel 30km to find a place for the releasing. every day more and more lands are being converted into farmland, commercial land or residential area. Snakes and other life forms are finding it hard to find an unused patch of land which they can use as their safe refuse.

**One interesting fact I would like to mention. On my journey of 60 km, I found atleast 14 dead snakes, all are road kill, run over by cars. 6 of the snakes are olive keelback water snake, 4 are chekered keelback water snake, 2 are buff stripped keelback land snake, 1 is a rat snake and the other one was not in identifiable condition.

Hidden Jewels (skinks)

When the question comes about reptiles, we mostly don’t know the answer only because they are the most neglected one. People care about birds, people care about mammals but people don’t care about reptiles except the fact that people fear snakes. And among reptiles the most neglected ones will be the skinks. Leave aside the common people, even the experts don’t have much information about them.

Of these greatly neglected, less studied and very secretive animals, two species are found at my home town Tamluk, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal. The first one is the most common skink of India, Brahminy Skink or Keeled Grass Skink (Mabuya carinata). It has a robust bronze brown body with 2 lateral yellow stripes and a chocolate brown band on top. The legs are well developed. It grows upto a length of 290mm of which 170 mm is tail.

This skink is equally at home in rural as well as urban environment. It frequently enters houses in search of prey. It mainly feeds upon crickets, caterpillars, beetles, earth worms etc. Though skinks are mainly ground dwelling creature, it is a very good climber also. I have seen it climb 6’-8’ vertical cemented wall with ease. And it is so good at living in urban space that i found 2 specimens in our 2nd floor rooftop garden.

The second one is the Snake Skink or Supple Skink (Lygosoma punctatus). Very few have seen it partly because of its small size and partly because of its semi-fossorial living. Semi- fossorial means it spends its time both over and under the surface. For its underground living habit several changes have occurred on its body. The body is elongated and have a snake like appearance. Legs are very small compared to the body. This gives us a hint how snakes have lost their legs. And the lower eyelid has a transparent window. This enables it to see even when the eyelids are closed which is often the case in underground movements, to protect the eye from accidental scratching.

Other than these, its general coloration is brown above and yellowish white below. It can reach a length of 15cm of which half is its tail. Tail is rather thick and gradually tapers to a point. As it spends most of time under leaf litter, it is hard to see. One interesting fact is that, the colour of the tail of juvenile Supple Skink is bright red. It looses colour as it ages.

Living Dragon (water monitor)

Yesterday afternoon when i returned home, i heard my aunt talking about something like, “......let it starve.” I asked about it and came to know that a juvenile “gosap” (monitor lizard) had fallen into a cemented pit 2 days ago and could not climb up the pit till now. I enquired about the location and went straight there. The lizard was still alive but a little less energetic. I know only 2days starvation wont be a problem for reptiles but if direct sunlight hit the lizard for full day, that could be fatal. Lizards cant regulate their body heat internally and long exposure of direct sunlight will increase their body temperature to deadly level. I picked up the lizard and released it outside.

That incident made me think about the general behaviour of people towards monitor lizards. And i found it to be more promising than the snakes. Most of the people think that each and every snake is harmful and should be killed at first sight but for monitor lizards, it is somewhat neutral. People consider them harmful because monitor lizards can cause a great damage in poultry farms. Monitor Other than that people actually don’t care about them too much. Sometimes people even encourage the existence of monitor lizards in their locality ‘cause they believe that if monitor lizards stay in the locality, the locality would be free of venomous snakes as snake consist a part of their diet. A few tribal people consume monitor lizards as source of protein. But the particular trait of human which devastated the population of monitor lizards and pushed them on the brink of extinction is their liking of monitor lizards skin for leather trade. Fortunately they are now under legal protection. That helped them revive their population.

In our locality two types of monitor lizards are found. The bigger one is Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) and the relatively smaller one is Bengal Monitor (Varanus bengalensis). Being bigger the water monitor dominates the environment and are numerous than the Bengal Monitor. Water Monitor can grow upto a length of 2.5mtrs. very few of us actually know that this is the largest lizard on India and third largest lizard of the world. These lizards are semi-aquatic in nature. They are associated with water bodies and water channels. They roam in the water ways and relatively less frequented areas on the bank of the water bodies like backyard gardens, old ruins etc even inside the city. Generally they avoid people. They are diurnal in nature and come out to hunt mainly at dawn and noon when the human activity is less. Insects, fish, crab, turtle, birds, eggs, snakes and even small mammals consist their diet. They even feed on carrions which helps to keep the waterways clean. They are very adept swimmer. They even do mating inside water while swimming like crocodiles. This behaviour can be seen in the months of monsoon. In the localities where human interaction with the Water Monitor is more and people are more tolerant towards them, they even break inside the house to steal chicken and ducks. They can walk around fearlessly because they don’t have any predator when they are full grown but they have much reason to worry when they are juvenile. Wild cats, mongoose, hawks, egrets etc all prey on them.

As human encroachment on nature is increasing, the wildlife is facing a greater challenge. But a few species have succeeded to reap a bounty of this bad situation. They have adapted themselves to live with human in the modified environment. Water monitor is one of them. As people have built new irrigation channels and drainage systems, they have colonised these new areas and increased their spread in inland areas. This actually helped the species not only to survive but to thrive in these changing conditions.

Non-paying guest.. (Garnot's Gecko)

For last few days I was thinking about which reptile should I write on. I didn’t have any wildlife encounter lately. Suddenly a “tick, tick, tick, tick” noise from the room’s wall caught my attention. Two lizards were fighting for territory. That opened my eyes. These lizards are with me every single minute and still I have ignored them till now.

So I opened my guide books to identify the lizards but could not identify them exactly. Only learned that it is kind of a house gecko. Then I got a call from my friend Gudduda. He told me to pick up one book from College St., Kolkata. It was a field guide on Indian reptiles by Indranil Das. I thought may be that can help me. So I rushed to get the book as soon as possible. And yes, this book exactly identified it as Garnot’s Gecko (Hemidactylus garnoti).

This little lizard is very numerous in our area. Each room of our house contains 2-3 individuals at least. They are rarely seen in daytime. Generally hides behind cupboards, bookshelves, cracks on walls or inside ventilators. But as the sun sets, they come out to hunt. Like all other hemidactylus species or rather say geckos, they also maintain individual territories. But where food is numerous like around light bulbs, they don’t maintain territories and gather around to reap the bounty. They are carnivorous. Their main foods are insects, spiders and insect larvae. They eat a great number of them daily.

This gecko grows to about 7cm in length from snout to vent. The tail is about 5-7 cm in length. Tail can break at will and this gives it a opportunity to evade the predators by distracting them. It has a large head. The scales on back are small. It also has lateral denticulation on tail. The overall coloration is brownish grey. Belly is of cream colour.

There are a few very interesting facts about this particular gecko. The first one is about distribution. It is a very widespread species. In India, it is found in Eastern part including West Bengal, Sikkim and Assam. Internationally it is found also in Bhutan, mainland South-east Asia and upto the islands of Pacific Ocean. But locally it does not share space with any other gecko. In our area three species of geckos are found, Garnot’s Gecko(Hemidactylus garnoti), Northern House gecko (Hemidactylus fluviviridis) and Brook’s Gecko(Hemidactylus brookii). The northern house gecko is most numerous. I have seen northern house gecko to roam side by side with Brook’s gecko. But I have never seen anyone with Garnot’s gecko. Locally where these two are found, the Garnot’s gecko stays missing.

Another interesting fact is about their breeding habit. There have never been any record of the male of this gecko. That means the whole population consists of only female geckos. Parthenogenesis is not very rare in reptile world. It is the process of producing offspring with out the need of mating or male sperm. These geckos produces two oval shaped eggs per clutch without mating with males.

Some people consider geckos to be harmful. But this is only a misconception. Actually geckos do a great amount of good by eating insects. Also geckos are not poisonous. Only three lizards are poisonous , 2 lives in north America and 1 in Comodo Island. So, that means my article name is also a misnomer. It is actually paying me by providing pest control services..

Snake Behavior

When we think of snakes, what picture come in mind first? Don’t we think of a creepy creature which is fierce and aggressive and ready to strike a man at the first sight of it? But is it true??

For some moment lets leave snakes aside and stand on a persons foot. What will happen? Depending on who he is, the reaction will be different. If he is a mafia, he will blow your head off. If he is a local strongman, he will punch in your face. If he is a illiterate young villager, he will push you aside and flood your ears with slangs. If he is a aged person, he will ask you to stand aside or if he is a very shy person, he won’t even say anything. So, you see how such a simple act brings out so diverse reactions! Now, try to grab somebody by his neck.

The same is true for snakes also. Every species of snakes have different personality, some are aggressive, some are mild tempered and some are timid. If I talk about the local snakes that I have observed personally, the matter could be clearer.

First start with the brand icon of Indian snakes, Indian Cobra or Gokhro (Naja naja). Once with the help of a friend I have got a juvenile Indian Cobra. It was packed in a plastic jar and it was aggressive. When ever I took my fingers near the jar, it didn’t delay to strike. But when I released it into a grassland, it didn’t waste a second striking me and tried to escape.

In contrast, some of the most aggressive snakes that I have seen are actually non-venomous. Take the case of Common Rat Snake or Dhamon (Ptyas mucosa). It is one of the largest snakes that frequently enter our houses in search of rats. Generally it does not pose a threat but when you grab it or step on it, if you are not prepared, it can inflict very bad wound as it tries to strike repeatedly.

Another very aggressive snake is Checkered Keelback or Jaldhora (Xenochorphis piscator). This non-venomous snake is found in ponds. You bath or swim in water, it will swim past you and wont even bother about you but try to harass it by grabbing or stepping on it it will bite and hold on readily.

Where as another keelback, the Olive Keelback (Atretium schistosum), shows remarkably different behavior. Even if you grab it tightly or pick it up by hand, it won’t try to bite, only it will try to escape. It won’t even open its mouth for once.

A land snake, Buff-stripped Keelback or Hele (Amphiesma stolatum), shows behavior some-where in between. If you pick it up, it will surely bite but if you handle it gently with real care, it won’t feel stressed and wont bite.

The same is true for another land snake, Wolf Snake or Chitisap (Lycodon aulicus). It is also common house snake and a very good climber, often found high on walls. With gentle handling, it is possible to pick them up without getting bitten. But they are really sensitive to smell. One captive wolf snake that I had once reacted really aggressively when exposed to the smell of shoe polish. I had not done this with other snakes but it could be true for them also.

Two tree snakes show two different behaviors. The Green Vine Snake or Laudoga (Ahaetulla nasuta) is very fast in striking. Being a tree snake it can lift its body remarkably and bite on the hand that is holding it. It may even bite on the nose or eyes. And when it bites, it holds on to it for a long time. But all these happen only if you are stopping it from escaping by holding it. Otherwise it will escape at your first sign.

The other one, common Bronzeback or Bet-achra (Dendrelaphis tristis), is different. It is reluctant in biting and bites only if you really provoke it. It too holds on to after biting. But if it gets a chance to escape, it will escape in blazing speed.

A venomous snake, Russell’s Viper or Chandrobora (Daboia russelii), shows a behavior altogether different. When I released a captured Russell’s Viper, it did not flee. It stands its ground and hissed loudly. It was so loud that if you hear it once, you wont forget it. And NEVER PICK UP A VIPER WITH HAND. Even if you survive after medication, it will leave a permanent damage on your body. But if you leave it alone, given enough time, it will go away.

So, what we see common in all these snakes is that they wants to escape at the first sign of danger that means us, except the viper. Vipers do not escape because they are not fast enough to evade danger by escaping. So, they stay there and confront danger face-to-face and. That is the moral of the story. Snakes show different behavior depending on the species but no one wants to bite us unless we are pushing it to do it. So if we leave them alone, they will leave us alone. And all will live happily ever after. Isn’t it true for human also??

Bio-diversity inside factory premises.

For the past few months I am working at a machining plant at Jamshedpur, India. The duty time consumes almost the whole day. So, when I joined the plant, I was a bit sad because I wont get as much time as I had before for observing the nature. But things don’t always happen as we thought it will be.

For the first few days at the plant, I didn’t see anything other than House Crows. But it is also true that in the first few days I didn’t have time to observe, I was busy familiarizing with my work. After the first few days, when I got the time to see things other than my work, the wildlife started to unfold itself in front of my eyes. The plant area is quite big and it contains a good number of trees. And these trees are what are supporting the wildlife. The trees have all been planted after the plant has been set. Mango trees, Ucalyptus, akashmoni and teak trees are the main constituent. There also is a propane gas storage facility which supports low bushes and also the trees that have been mentioned. It is like a small garden outside the noises of the machines.

As I have said earlier, I found house crows in there. Large-billed crows are also a frequent visitor. House sparrow is very abundant species in here. You will find them in every corner of the plant. They are most amusing when they quarrel and fight with each other before finally settling on the brunches of teak trees for the night. They are very comfortable in the factory environment. I have watched those making nests inside the machining sheds. Another bird that I have seen nesting inside the sheds is spotted dove. Spotted doves are not too much abundant. There are probably 2-3 pairs in the factory premises. Red-whiskered bulbul is numerous but they never enter the factory sheds. They roam from trees to trees. They even made nests on the mango trees. Oriental pied starlings are very common. They move about in groups. But they rarely come to trees in front of the machining sheds. They roam the trees at the propane storage area. They don’t nest in here. I have seen a pair of oriental magpie robins just out side the factory wall. They always stay there, but never cross the wall and enter the factory. Another bird that can be seen inside the factory is black kite. Only if we assume that the airspace above the factory belongs to the factory because they never land inside the factory. They just fly in circles above it. Sunbirds are seasonal visitors when the trees are in full bloom.

In the butterfly world it is a tiger country. You will always find a plain tiger gliding in the pathways. Some times it is the Stripped Tiger. Blue tiger is also a frequent flier. The few lantana bushes inside the factory always attract one or two Common Immigrants. Chocolate Pansy and Peacock Pansy can be found on the walls basking in the morning sun. Common Evening Browns hover around lights in the evening. Two types of very tiny blues, namely Indian cupid & Grass Jewel can be found anywhere among the grasses. Only once a Peacock glided past me. I just caught a glimpse of it. So I couldn’t specifically identify it. Common Mormon is not numerous but not very rare either.

The herpeto-faunal world in the factory is very rich, not in diversity but in numbers. Practically every tree, every bush supports a lizard. The main competitor is Common Garden Lizard. You will find them almost on every tree trunk and on every bush. In the propane storage area where some workers spend time during the lunch time, the Garden Lizard got so brave that they even come on ground within two feet of people to eat ants and other insects. They have become accustomed with human presence. The workers also don’t disturb the lizards. Another numerous lizards are Peninsular Rock Agama. They adjust with Common Garden Lizard beautifully. They have different character and needs than the Common garden Lizards. Common Garden Lizards are more aggressive, Rock Agamas are timid in nature. They are shy creatures in nature. They like to stay hidden in the crevices of walls or in rocks and bricks lying in the factory. Rock Agamas have such cryptic coloration that when they are hard pressed on the rock walls or on the tree trunks, from a moderate distance they are completely invisible. Brahminy Skinks are also present in the factory. But due to their nature of staying below the leaf litter, they are met only occasionally. Among geckos, there is Northern House Gecko, Frilled Gecko and Brook’s gecko.

Overall I would say I am very much impressed by the diversity that I found in the factory. Frankly speaking, I never ever thought that I would find so many different species in the factory.