Gharial conservation
Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Centre,[2] breeds endangered gharial which is one of 3 native crocodile species of India, all 3 of which are endangered, other 2 being mugger and salt water crocodile which are not breed here. By 1975, only 300 gharials were remaining in Uttar Pradesh. Consequently, Uttar Pradesh Forest Department collected gharial eggs from the river banks, incubated, and released adult gharials in to various rivers. Kukrali captive-breeding programme for gharial is one of the two such most successful wildlife conservation programmes in the country, other being Madras Crocodile Bank Trust.[1]
Kurail Gharial breeding center project was established in 1978 by the Uttar Pradesh forest department in collaboration with Ministry of Environment and Forests of India, after a 1975 study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (UNO) estimated that there were only 300 crocodile left in the open rivers of Uttar Pradesh.[1]
Gharial breeding
Center has been 4 resident females and two resident male gharials for captive breeding, till 2016 total of 5410 gharial juveniles have been released into various rivers including 254 into Ganges river. Apart from breeding crocodiles in the park, crocodile eggs are also collected from the banks of Ramganga, Suheli, Girwa and Chambal rivers. The female crocodile lays eggs in April by digging holes on the river banks. The young crocodiles hatch in a period of 60 to 80 days. When young crocodiles come out of these eggs after artificial hatching at the center, they are fed and looked after till they become capable of defending themselves against other predators. The young crocodiles are then released into the waters of Chambal, Sharda, Ghaghra, Girwa, Ramganga and Ganges rivers. This programme has contributed to the improvement in the gharial's status not only in Uttar Pradesh but also in the neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as well as has provided gharials to zoos and nature parks in Odisha, Kanpur, Delhi, West Bengal, Chennai, Bhutan, Tokyo, New York, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.[3]
Gharial research
For the scientific study, at the time of release into the wild the juveniles are tagged with color coded tags and unique identification numbers which can be later seen with the help of binacular. Some gharials were released with high frequency (VHF) radio tags into the Ghaghra river for better tracking for the scientific study. Centre also uses biologging to research the underwater behaviour of free ranging gharials in which a light weight camera if tied to the head of gharial at the time of release which detaches from the gharial after 4 hours, it collects diving depths, swimming speeds and frequency of movements, etc. Detached cameras are collected for the research.[3]