About Gharial, Reptile With Giant Narrow Snout

About Gharial, Reptile With Giant Narrow Snout

About Gharial, Reptile With Giant Narrow Snout. Gharial or in other languages ​​Gavialis gangeticus is the name of a reptile that is related to a crocodile. At first glance, Gharial does have a crocodile-like appearance.

Its body is wide and covered with brownish scales that are oval and rectangular. On its back there are rows of scales that extend from the base of the head to the tip of the tail.

Whereas in terms of behavior, Gharial is not an aggressive animal and is dangerous for humans because Gharial's main food is fish.

About Gharial, Reptile With Giant Narrow Snout

Gharial's distinctive feature that sets it apart from other crocodile species is its flat and narrow snout. Due to the shape of the muzzle, Gharial can move his muzzle in the water freely so that Gharial can more easily take his food, namely fish.

Gharial's needle-like teeth prevent the caught fish from escaping. Male and female gharials have a distinct muzzle appearance.

About Gharial, Reptile With Giant Narrow Snout

If a male Gharial has a sphere called a Ghara at the end of the muzzle, then the female Gharial does not. Gharial is only found in large rivers located in South Asia and Myanmar. Its favorite habitat is deep, slow-flowing rivers.

In contrast to other crocodile species, Crocodiles have relatively weak legs so they cannot move quickly on land and only go ashore if they want to rest and sunbathe.

Gharials are solitary animals, but several Gharials can share the same basking area. On a hot day, Gharial could not go ashore at all and only swam slowly while poking his head to the surface.

Gharial has a body that was created to live in water. Its body is elongated with short webbed feet, so that Gharial can move swiftly in the water.

Read More: About the Giant Squid Conquering Whale

Its nostrils are at the top of the muzzle so that Gharial can breathe while still immersing most of her body. Its scales have small sensory organs that help Gharial detect changes in water pressure and find out the position of other creatures near him.

Gharial's ear canal is equipped with a valve to prevent water from entering the ear canal when Gharial is submerged.

For vision matters, Gharial's eyes are equipped with a membrane layer that protects Gharial's eyes from splashes of water and a reflective layer so that Gharial can still see properly in the dark.

Gharial Marries in Water but Nests on Land

The Gharial breeding season varies between regions, but generally lasts from November to February.

When the mating season arrives, The female gharial will go around looking for territory A male gharial to suit his taste. Male gharials will captivate Female gharial by banging her jaw against the surface of the water.

About Gharial, Reptile With Giant Narrow Snout

If female Gharial is interested Male gharial, The female gharial will tilt its muzzle upwards and the two then mate.

After marriage which can take up to half an hour, The female gharial will come ashore to build a nest. Real female Gharial nests are holes dug in sand that can reach 50 centimeters in height.

This hole is used by female Gharial to lay eggs. Large female gharials can lay up to 100 eggs, but generally the number of eggs produced by Gharial ranges from 28 to 60 eggs.

After that, the female Gharial will return to the water during the day and ascend ashore to guard her burrows at night. Gharial eggs take less than three months to hatch.

Gharial Videos

The Female Gharial will then care for and care for the children up to three weeks of age. Young gharials feed on insects and small aquatic animals.

Male Gharials are larger than female Gharials, so male Gharials also have a different growth rate than female Gharials.

If male Gharial experiences sexual maturity at the age of 15 years, then the sexual maturity age of female Gharials is 8 years.

A male Gharial can grow up to 6 m long, while its maximum size The female gharial is about 4 m tall. This size also makes Gharial one of the largest animal members of the Crocodilia order in the world. It is not known the maximum age of Gharial, but the animal is thought to live up to 100 years.

About Gharial, Reptile With Giant Narrow Snout

Due to their large size, adult Gharials have no enemies in the wild. However, Gharial eggs are susceptible to being eaten by rats, wild boar, monitor lizards, raccoons and wolves if female Gharial is not present.

Meanwhile, the young Gharial is also vulnerable to predation by larger water predators. Of the many threats that lurk Gharial in the wild, the creatures that most threaten Gharial are humans because they often hunt Gharial for its scales, meat, Ghara, and eggs.

As a result, the Gharial population has experienced a sharp decline and the adult Gharial population in the wild is estimated to be only 300 Gharial population. By: Ochie

#animals #Reptile #Water