Endangered gharial spotted again in Kaziranga

A CORRESPONDENT

BOKAKHAT: After a long gap, the endangered gharial has once again been sighted in Kaziranga. Photographs of the reptile have also been captured on camera by tourists. Recently, tourist guide Shishukanta Nath photographed a gharial on a sandbar of the Brahmaputra River near the Diflumukh forest camp in the Burhapahar range of Kaziranga National Park.

It may be mentioned that noted environmentalist and administrative officer Anowaddin Choudhury, along with Gauhati University Professor Prashanta Saikia, had been studying the possible presence of gharials in the Brahmaputra for many years. In a special survey conducted in 2021 by the international conservation organisation World Wide Fund for Nature, researchers were able to spot and photograph a gharial for the first time in the sandbar region of the Brahmaputra located north of the sixth addition area of the Burhapahar range of Kaziranga National Park.

Following this, in 2022, the research team again sighted the gharial several times in the same region, although they were unable to photograph it. Later, from January 16 to 25, 2025, a survey covering a 160-kilometre stretch of the Brahmaputra was conducted jointly by the Biswanath Wildlife Division of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve and TSA Foundation India.

The survey area extended from Majuli to Kaliabhomora Bridge and Tezpur. The research team assessed the suitability of habitats for aquatic reptiles by studying factors such as river depth, width of channels, water current, vegetation cover, and surrounding landscape.

The five-member team, led by Susmita Kar and Monalisa Baishya, documented more than 900 turtles belonging to five species. Along with this, the team also recorded evidence of a female gharial in the region and successfully photographed it. Later, TSA Foundation India published a report featuring photographs and information about the Kaziranga gharial.

Dr Susmita Kar, Coordinator of the TSA Foundation India, stated that during the 2024 survey, they had sighted the same female gharal several times on the Brahmaputra sandbars of Burhapahar and were able to photograph it. After 2024, the gharial has once again been spotted in the area recently.

Experts believe that four consecutive years of documented evidence indicate that a healthy habitat for gharials is developing in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. The repeated sightings of a female gharial over the past three years in the vast sixth addition area of the Brahmaputra are considered highly significant. These findings have confirmed the presence of gharials in the Brahmaputra River.

According to experts, this marks the return of the gharial to the Brahmaputra ecosystem after nearly 75 years.

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