Dhritiman Mukherjee, a wildlife photographer from India, visited the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary last year in the hopes of seeing a strange-looking crocodile.
The severely endangered gharial has a long, narrow snout that is ideal for collecting fish. This huge crocodile was once prevalent in South Asian rivers and sandbanks, but there are now just around 250 individuals surviving in the wild.
Luckily, Mukherjee was able to spot one — and not just any gharial, but a very successful dad.
“Generally, one male mates with eight or nine females and so the male alone guards the babies of all females he mates with,” Mukherjee told The Dodo.
Mukherjee spent about a week observing the gharial father care for his children, which was no simple feat with hundreds of newborns to safeguard. The gharial’s snout is too tiny to contain all of its kids, unlike other crocodiles, which carefully carry their babies in their jaws for safety. To keep safe, their offspring must instead grab a ride on their father’s back.
If you’re a gharial father, there’s no time to rest.
“If someone got close to them, he became quite possessive and angry,” Mukherjee added. “The male always spends 24 hours with the newborns.” The infants sometimes rest on their father’s back.”
Conservationists are hoping that Mukherjee’s images of the huge gharial family and dedicated father will lead to the reintroduction of this rare crocodile. However, with the possibility of losing their river habitats owing to damming and overfishing, the gharial requires all the help he can get.
“With the help of my images, I can connect a huge number of people emotionally and scientifically with the natural world,” Mukherjee said. “I realized [photography] can be a great tool to create awareness and consciousness — a great tool for conservation.”
And this hard-working crocodile dad is finally getting the attention he deserves.
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