Bhitarkanka National Park
Bhitarkanka National Park
Subject: Environment
Section: Places of news
The population of saltwater crocodiles in the water bodies of Bhitarkanika National Park and its nearby areas in Odisha’s Kendrapara district has marginally increased in 2023, according to the annual reptile census
Bhitarkanika is the abode of 20 whitish estuarine crocodiles according to the reptile census report, added Kar.
In 1975, the ministry of forest and environment, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, had started a crocodile breeding and rearing project in Dangamala within Bhitarkanika. Thanks to the success of the project, the crocodile population started increasing in the creeks, rivers and other water bodies of the park and its nearby areas. In 2006, the Guinness Book of World Records recorded a 23-foot-long salt-water crocodile in Bhitarkanika as the largest crocodile in the world
The breeding and rearing programme for three species of crocodilians — saltwater crocodile, mugger and gharial — had been started in 1975 in 34 places in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states in India and Nepal.
But the saltwater crocodile conservation programme in Bhitarkanika is the most successful one as in 1975, Bhitarkanika was the home of only 96 crocodiles
Bhitarkanka National Park
- Bhitarkanika is a unique habitat of Mangrove Forests crisscrossed with numerous creeks and mud flats located in Kendra Para district of Orissa.
- It is a Ramsar Site under Ramsar Convention on wetlands.
- Bhitarkanika located in the estuary of Brahmani, Baitarani, and Dharma & Mahanadi River systems.
- Bhitarkanika National Park is a prime habitat of leopard cat, fishing cat, jungle cat, hyena, wild boar, spotted deer, sambar, porcupine, dolphin, salt water crocodile including partially white crocodile, python, king cobra, water monitor lizards, terrapin, marine turtle, kingfisher, wood pecker, hornbill, bar headed geese, pintail, white bellied sea eagle, tern, sea gull, waders and a large variety of resident and migratory birds.
- Nutrients from Bhitarkanika are flushed out to the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, which attracts the world’s largest population of Olive Ridley Sea turtles for congregation and nesting. Nearly half a million turtles arrive here every winter.