| Corbett National Park is part of the Corbett Tiger Reserve, which in addition contains Sonadi Wildlife Sanctuary, and a large buffer zone. This reserve, totaling approximately 1288 sq. km., is located about 300 km northeast of Delhi in the Western Himalayan State of Uttarakhand.Corbett National Park was one of the few places in the world to observe wild gharial populations in the world in the 1970’s, when gharial numbers were critically low. Now,while gharial populations are again critically low, gharials can still be seen in the Ramganga River in Corbett, which is estimated to be the northern most limit of their range in India. Approximately 257 gharials have been released into the Ramganga River as part of the Crocodile Conservation Project.
The park is well protected with intensive patrolling. Threats to gharials from humans are minimal as there is no fishing within the boundaries of the park nor any other form of human disturbance like that of sand mining, agriculture or boulder removal from the Ramganga River. The Ramganga River with its deep pools and healthy fish populations provides ideal habitat for gharials.
However there has been no reported gharial breeding in this area in 30 years, and current populations may only be due to the head-started gharial that have been released since Project Crocodile. The low number of adults indicates a very low survival and retention rate of gharials in this area. It is the position of the GCA that no further releases should be carried out until the causes of this low survival rate are better understood and mitigated if possible. |
