CHITWAN: The Gharial Breeding Center inside Chitwan National Park has successfully hatched 202 baby gharials (Gavialis gangeticus) from eggs collected along the banks of the Rapti River.
According to Avinash Thapa Magar, the park’s information officer, a total of 232 eggs were collected this season, out of which 202 successfully hatched.
Twenty of the eggs were kept separately in a lab setting, with 19 hatchlings emerging, while the remaining eggs were incubated under natural conditions within the breeding center.
The eggs were gathered on April 29 from seven nests identified among 18 gharial nesting sites along the Rapti River. All 232 eggs from the selected nests were carefully transported to the center to be protected and incubated.
Last fiscal year, eggs were collected from eight of the 16 gharial nests found along the Rapti, amounting to 247 eggs.
Eggs are collected from vulnerable nesting sites to protect them from natural and human-induced threats, including flooding, predation by snakes and birds, and disturbances from human activity.
The breeding center, established in 1978, plays a vital role in safeguarding gharial populations by hatching and rearing the young before releasing them back into the wild.
Once matured, the gharials are released into major river systems such as the Narayani, Rapti, and Karnali. In recent years, however, releases have been focused primarily on the Narayani and Rapti rivers.
Since 1981, following the center’s establishment, thousands of gharial hatchlings have been successfully released into Nepal’s rivers as part of conservation efforts to revive the endangered species.
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