Gharials Have Been Washing Up Dead In India

Gharials are dying. The Indian reptiles have been washing ashore since early December. With only about 1,500 gharials left in the wild researchers are scrambling to find out what is killing them.

Pollution seems to be one of the causes that is leading to the demise of the reptiles that look like crocodiles. The reptile native to India can grow to ten feet long. The Gharial Conservation Alliance says that 81 bodies have been found since early December. Chief Wildlife Warden D.N.S. Suman says that only 50 bodies have been found. Dr. A.K. Sharma of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute announced that an unknown parasite has been found in the liver and kidneys of the animals.

"We can say that liver and kidney of these gharials were badly damaged," said Sharma. "They were swollen and bigger than their usual size."

Some believe that the reptiles have gotten sick from eating contaminated fish that live in the Yamuna River. The Yamuna River joins the native waters of the gharials at the Chambal River in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Along with the parasites tests have confirmed that lead and cadmium has been present in the bodies of the dead reptiles.

The Chambal river has clear water free from heavy metals. The only possibility seems that these gharials might have migrated from heavily polluted Yamuna river where they might have eaten fish," said Suman.

In the 1970's the gharial was facing extinction. India started a breeding program that released several hundred of the reptiles into the wild.