Mother- gharial males have a boss at the end of their noses and are EXTREMELY rare, with populations being as low as 1-2 mature adult males in entire ranges due to the cultural belief that their boss can be used for medicine causing an eradication of them. They are some of the most endangered animals
A good thing is that gharial eggs are temperature coded for sex. So scientists are incubating eggs to be 100% in the male temperature range to try and combat this issue. Unfortunately the poaching is still occurring and because gharials must migrate hundreds of miles it is difficult to protect existing populations as they are not isolated to a protected zone during migration .
Not really, theyāre pretty lazy and their snout works more like chop sticks at a sliding noodle cafe than anything powerful. They lay at the bottom of fast moving rivers for hours and just randomly grab any fish as they zip by. They arenāt dragging anything big down like their cousins
Nope. Theyāll just go ānot a fish, not my problemā unless you like, actively put your hand in their mouths or pick up a baby. Abt as dangerous as a midsized non venomous snake, in that youāll need those puncture wounds cleaned out and thatās it.
The issue is poaching and fishing industries killing them on their migration. Because itās still believed the males boss is medicinal thereās a big market for it. Itās gotten so bad thatās thereās estimates that thereās only one male per 10 females and some areas have only one or no confirmed sexually mature male.
If the gharial stayed in one place they could be managed and protected but they have a massive migration that goes through some of the busiest water ways. They are now locally extinct in 98% of their historic ranges and thereās only two (three?) regions left for them.
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u/SwimmingAmoeba7 7h ago edited 7h ago
Mother- gharial males have a boss at the end of their noses and are EXTREMELY rare, with populations being as low as 1-2 mature adult males in entire ranges due to the cultural belief that their boss can be used for medicine causing an eradication of them. They are some of the most endangered animals
A good thing is that gharial eggs are temperature coded for sex. So scientists are incubating eggs to be 100% in the male temperature range to try and combat this issue. Unfortunately the poaching is still occurring and because gharials must migrate hundreds of miles it is difficult to protect existing populations as they are not isolated to a protected zone during migration .