They can dig burrows during extreme weather events, run on land, and will eat just about anything. These traits, among others, make mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) a versatile species capable of adapting to change.
“As part of the study, we conducted a count of muggers in the reserve and its buffer zone area, where households and communities run private fish ponds supported by the wildlife reserve,” said Divya Bhattrai, the study’s lead author and a researcher at Nepal’s Agriculture and Forestry University. “We also assessed the threats muggers face in their habitat.”
The Koshi Tappu survey was conducted during Nepal’s winter, from mid-September to mid-December 2020, when the muggers come out to bask in the sun and are easier to spot. Bhattarai and her team observed 35 muggers, up from 16 recorded in 2013. “The number may have increased as we surveyed not only the protected area, but also private and community ponds of the adjoining buffer zone,” she said. Of the 35 individuals recorded, 19 were sighted in the buffer zone area next to community and private fish ponds.
While the easy pickings in the fish farms may be pulling the crocodiles into the villages, other factors are also pushing them away from the river, researchers say. According to the study, the wildlife reserve issued 466 licenses to Indigenous communities to fish in a small stretch of the river. But many license holders were found to be fishing more than their allotted quota, and many unlicensed fishers also operate in the area. “The fishermen told us that their yields have also gone down in the last few years,” Bhattarai said.
The researchers also found that the muggers seldom appeared threatened when moving amid humans living close to their habitats. Their distribution was little affected by human disturbance, distance to human settlements or even roads. “We found that one of the communities worshiped the muggers as their chief deity,” Bhattarai said.