Neither short nor stout but has a really long snout
Originally uploaded by Pandiyan.
Indian Gharial - Gavialis gangeticus
The most critiacally threatened of all crocodilians. They usually are found in rivers and are harmless to humans except during nesting.
They are more adapted to an aquatic lifestyle preferring calmer areas of fast moving rivers. They come to land for nesting and basking but are not very well eqipped for moving on land.
Their thn and long snouts are their special feature and they have 100+ teeth unlike their other crocodile cousins which have 60+ Their teeth are razor sharp and interlock making them highly specialised for catching fish.
They also grow very large, not as much as salt water crocodiles, but to 15-16 feet. With this bulk they can only 'bellycrawl' unlike other crocs which can walk with body raised.
They numbers are threatened as they get caught in fishing nets; get killed for their snouts believed to have aphrodisiacal properties; and lack of many release sites for captive-bred ones. Decline in gharials result in lower fish catch as their diet consist of predatory fish. They are good scavengers too.
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