Gharial
The gharial is one of the most distinctive reptiles on Earth. It belongs to the crocodilian order but stands apart from all other members thanks to a snout so long and narrow it looks almost like a pair of needlenose pliers. That slender jaw is lined with dozens of small, interlocking teeth built for gripping fish rather than tearing flesh. Adult males grow a rounded, fleshy knob at the tip of the snout called a ghara, which they use to produce buzzing sounds during courtship. Found only in a few rivers of northern India, southern Nepal and Bangladesh, this species once ranged across much of South Asia. Hunting, river damming, sand mining, and accidental drowning in fishing nets reduced the wild population to fewer than 200 individuals by the 1970s. Captive breeding programs have helped, and numbers in the Chambal River are rising, but the IUCN estimated only about 650 mature adults in 2019.
What is a gharial? Is it a crocodile?
The gharial, Gavialis gangeticus, is a large, fish eating reptile of the rivers of northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and one of the most unusual members of the crocodilian order. That order has four groups: crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials. The gharial is not a true crocodile in the narrow sense, since it belongs to its own family, Gavialidae, together with the false gharial of Southeast Asia, but genetic studies show that the two are closer relatives of the true crocodiles than of alligators and caimans. So it is fair to call it a kind of crocodile, and many people search for it as the gharial crocodile. Its name comes from ghara, the Hindi word for an earthen pot, because of the pot shaped knob on the snout of adult males. In English it is also called the gavial, a name that began as a misspelling of the Indian word, and sometimes the fish eating crocodile. It is one of the most endangered crocodilians in the world.
What a gharial looks like: the snout, the ghara and its size
Few animals are as easy to recognize. The gharial's snout is extraordinarily long and thin, about three to four times longer than it is wide at the base, and it carries around 110 small, sharp, interlocking teeth that work like a trap for slippery fish. The body is slender and olive to grayish brown, darker on the back and pale below, which blends with the sandy riverbed. Its legs are weak compared with those of other crocodilians, so adults cannot lift the body high off the ground; on land they push themselves forward on their bellies and rarely move far from the water. Mature males grow the ghara, a rounded, fleshy bulb at the tip of the snout around the nostrils, which they use to make a loud buzzing sound and blow bubbles during courtship. Gharials are among the longest crocodilians: adult females reach about 2.6 to 4.5 meters, while males usually measure 3 to 5 meters, with old historical records of males over 6 meters. Large males can weigh 150 to 250 kilograms, light for their length because of their thin build.
Where do gharials live?
Gharials once lived in all the great river systems of the northern Indian subcontinent, from the Indus in Pakistan to the Brahmaputra and possibly the Irrawaddy in Myanmar. They are now extinct in Pakistan, Bhutan and Myanmar and survive in a few river stretches of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The largest population, by far, lives in the Chambal River, protected by the National Chambal Sanctuary across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Smaller groups live in the Girwa River in Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, the Gandak in Bihar, the Ghaghara and the Son, and released gharials live in the Ken, the Ganges near Hastinapur and the Beas in Punjab. In Nepal they live in the Narayani and Rapti rivers of Chitwan National Park and the Babai and Karnali rivers of Bardia, and in Bangladesh a few survive in the Padma, the Bangladeshi Ganges. Gharials need deep, clean, fast flowing rivers with deep pools and high sandbanks for basking and nesting, so they are very sensitive to dams, irrigation and sand mining. The Chambal, with boat trips from Deori and Rajghat, is the best place to see them.
What do gharials eat?
Gharials eat almost only fish, which is why their snout is so thin. They hunt by waiting in the current or lying still on the riverbed, then sweeping the head sideways through the water. A broad snout would push water ahead of it and warn the fish, but the gharial's narrow jaws cut through the water with almost no resistance, and the rows of interlocking teeth hold slippery prey. Once a fish is caught, the gharial lifts its head above the surface and juggles the fish around to swallow it head first. Hatchlings and juveniles start with insects, crustaceans and small frogs and move on to fish as they grow. Adults take many kinds of river fish, from small species to large catfish, and they also swallow stones, which may help with digestion or buoyancy. Unlike the mugger and saltwater crocodiles, they do not hunt large mammals, and their jaws are too thin to tackle them.
Reproduction: nests and gharial dads
Gharials mate in the cool months of December and January. Males patrol stretches of river, raise their heads and use the ghara to make loud buzzing sounds and blow bubbles, and a dominant male mates with several females. In March and April, during the dry season, females dig holes in high sandbanks well above the water and lay around 40 eggs on average, sometimes as few as 20 or as many as 95. The eggs hatch after about 60 to 80 days, usually in June, just before the monsoon floods. Females often nest together on the same sandbanks, and when the hatchlings call from inside the eggs, the mothers dig them out. Young gharials form large groups that stay near the nesting area for weeks, guarded by adults. Males take part too: a famous 2017 photograph from the Chambal shows a large male carrying dozens of hatchlings on his back and head. Gharials grow slowly and females mature at around 10 to 12 years, so populations take a long time to recover.
Why are gharials endangered? How many are left
The gharial is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. By the mid 1970s hunting for skins, egg collection, dams and fishing had reduced the wild population to fewer than 200, and in 2007 the species was moved to Critically Endangered after another steep decline. India and Nepal answered with captive breeding and egg collection: centers such as Kukrail in Lucknow and Kasara in Chitwan have raised and released thousands of young gharials since the late 1970s. The IUCN estimated about 650 mature adults in its 2019 assessment. Since then counts have improved: surveys in 2024 found more than 2,400 gharials of all ages in the Chambal, and Chitwan counted 265 in early 2024. The threats remain serious. Dams and irrigation canals cut rivers into pieces and take away water; sand mining destroys nesting banks; fishing nets drown gharials; and pollution is a constant danger. In the winter of 2007 and 2008 more than 100 gharials died in the Chambal from a kidney disease probably linked to toxins in the water. The species is in CITES Appendix I.
