Page 38 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

38 ATLAS OF THE WORLD’S STRANGEST ANIMALS

More people in Africa are killed by hippopotami than by
Gharial habitats
crocodiles, but these incredible creatures still generate fear
and awe wherever they’re encountered.And rightly so.
Crocodiles may rarely attack people, but these mighty,
muscled meat-eaters are one of nature’s most perfectly
adapted hunters.
Perhaps the biggest and most notorious member of this
reptile family are Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus). These
powerful animals are the largest crocodilians in Africa and
the third largest, worldwide, after the saltwater crocodile
(Crocodylus porosus) and the gharial. On average, all three
species rarely grow beyond 5m (16.4ft) in length.With
enough food and time, though, they may top the 6m
(19.7ft) mark.And the largest gharial, shot in northern
Bihar in 1924, was a staggering 7m (23ft) long, from the
tip of his bulbous snout to the tapering end of his
armoured tail.
Nile and saltwater crocodiles are quite capable of
attacking anything that wanders into their territory – added reach and their slender profile reduces water
and they often do. But people have little to fear from resistance. Any fish caught this way is held fast, impaled
the gharial. It may be one of the ‘big boys’, but it is not, by razor-sharp teeth that lock firmly together.Yet, it’s
in fact, a man-eater. It is simply not equipped for such not just the gharials’ distinctive snout that makes them
dirty work. such perfect piscivores.
An adult gharial’s preferred food is fish, and its jaws
and teeth are perfectly adapted for such a diet.These Too specialized?
patient predators spend much of their day in the river, Crocodilians are an ancient and widespread group of
lying low and waiting to grab passing prey with a swift, reptile. In fact, they have been so successful as a species
sideways sweep of the head.Their thin snout gives them that they’ve changed very little since dinosaurs ruled the

Comparisons

Like its Indian cousin, the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) makes its Borneo. Its slightly broader snout means that it has a much more
living in freshwater rivers. Currently this rare reptile can be found in adventurous diet than the ‘true’ gharial, and eats large vertebrates such
Sumatra, Malaysia and a few remote river systems on the island of as monkeys and deer as well as fish.

False gharial Gharial

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.