DEEPIKA GLOBAL (Kerala, India) 04 June 03 Dozen rare white crocodiles sighted inside Bhitarkanika
Kendrapara, Orissa: At least a dozen albino estuarine crocodiles were recently sighted inside the creek and nallahs of the river system of Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary in Orissa.
Forest Official sources said these rare salt water crocodiles were sighted during ongoing nesting of the crocodiles.
This was the first time in the history of the Bhitarkanika sanctuary that the rare whire crocodiles were sighted by the forest officials.
A recent census survey conducted by the wildlife wing of Rajnagar Mangrove Division had revealed the presence of over 1300 saltwater crocodiles inside the creek of the Bhitarkanika, considered to be the ideal habitat for the estuarine crocodiles.
The 6.9 feet rare white female crocodile ''Gori'', the wildlife officials had claimed was one of the two rare white salt water crorocodiles found in Asia.
But the sighting of dozen more white saltwater crocodiles has brough cheers to the wildlife officials in the state.Gori, now kept in a separate isolated pool, was the star attraction of thousands of tourists who thronged the national park.
According to Rajnagar Mangrove Division Forest Oficer Anup Nayak, most of the albino estuarine crocodiles spotted by the officials were stated to be female.
He said at least two of them were more white in colour than the famous ''Gori''. Experts attribute the whiteness on the body of the salt water crocodiles to a chromosome disorder.
DEEPIKA GLOBAL (Kerala, India) 06 June 03 A rare white female crocodile in trouble
Bhubaneswar (UNI): Gori, one of the two rare white saltwater crocodiles in the world listed in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report, is in deep trouble.
Languishing inside a specially built pool in the Dangmal Crocodile Research Centre of Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary for the last 28 years ever since her birth in captivity in 1975, she is now in the midst of a controversy over her release to the wild.
The wildlife officials are contemplating her release to the creek of Bhitarkanika with the hope of offering her a new life as her conservation in captivity has raised serious doubts among the wildlife experts and researchers.
However, several senior wildlife officials have decried the step stating that it would be suicidal to put her in the nature at this stage.
Being alien to nature, she would be ultimately killed as the crocodiles, highly territorial in nature once established, would never allow any intruder into their territory even if it is a female one.
Gori came out as an exceptional variety when nearly 48 eggs from Kalibhanjadiha in Dhamra river were brought for incubation in the artificial hatchery at the Dangmal Crocodile Research Centre.
Being ivory white, she became the second in the world to find a place in the FAO report.
