Abstract
A biodiversity survey was conducted in Koraput District of southern Odisha between August 2014 and July 2017. During the survey, occurrence of Mugger or Marsh Crocodile Crocodylus palustris was ascertained from five localities in a stretch of 23km of river Saberi, a tributary of the Godavari River system. The area is in the Gupteswar proposed reserve forest of Odisha, and forms a boundary with Kanger Ghat National Park of Chhattisgarh State. The geographic region offers possible scope for long term ecological monitoring jointly by wildlife organizations of Odisha and Chhattisgarh in collaboration with Central University of Orissa. For long-term conservation of the species, activities may be initiated with annual monitoring of crocodile populations involving local people, and creating awareness about the Schedule-I status of crocodiles under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Highlights
While carrying out a biodiversity inventory in Koraput District of southern Odisha, we recorded the presence of Mugger or Marsh Crocodile Crocodylus palustris Lesson, 1831, from five locations along the Saberi River (Fig. 1; Table 1) of Godavari River system
While presenting the existing scenario and findings from our survey, we feel that better conservation can be provided to crocodiles and their associates in the Saberi River at Gupteswar of Koraput through collaboration of the wildlife organizations of Odisha and Chhattisgarh with the Central University of Orissa at Koraput to initiate long term ecological monitoring (LTEM) in this region with public involvement and awareness
The observation of three crocodiles on one single day, 12 January 2017 (Table 1), all in the size range 3-3.3 m, leads to infer that at least three adult Mugger crocodiles are present in a stretch of 23km of the river Saberi
Summary
While carrying out a biodiversity inventory in Koraput District of southern Odisha, we recorded the presence of Mugger or Marsh Crocodile Crocodylus palustris Lesson, 1831, from five locations along the Saberi River (Fig. 1; Table 1) of Godavari River system. While presenting the existing scenario and findings from our survey, we feel that better conservation can be provided to crocodiles and their associates in the Saberi River at Gupteswar of Koraput through collaboration of the wildlife organizations of Odisha and Chhattisgarh with the Central University of Orissa at Koraput to initiate long term ecological monitoring (LTEM) in this region with public involvement and awareness.
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