16 white crocodiles spotted in Odisha's Bhitarkanika

Sixteen whitecrocodiles have been sighted in the brackish water bodies ofOdisha's Bhitarkanika National Park, the country's lonehabitation for albino estuarine crocodiles, as per the latestcensus report released on Monday.

The crocodile population in Bhitarkanika has swollento 1,768 from 95 four decades ago, the report said.

There were only two white crocodiles in Bhitarkanikawhen a crocodile conservation programme of the Centre and theUNDP was launched in 1975 while the number had increased to 15last year, researcher Sudhakar Kar, who led the census team,said.

''We were earlier apprehensive of the mortality rateamong albino crocodiles but as they have been spotted again,it seems the brackish water bodies of the national park haveemerged as a favourable habitation for the reptiles,'' he said.

As per the report, 593 crocodiles are hatchlings, 367yearlings, 30 juveniles, 152 sub-adults and 336 adults.

Estuarine crocodiles are also found in West Bengal'sSundarbans and mangrove wetlands in the Andaman and NicobarIslands but the population of the reptiles is the highest inBhitarkanika, he said.

Apart from the 16 white crocodiles in the wild,Bhitarkanika is also home to two members of the species livingin captivity in the park's enclosure, including a 46-year-oldfemale crocodile that shuns mating.

Bhitarkanika is home to the world's largest crocodilemeasuring 21 feet.

More than 70 per cent of the crocodiles were spottedin water bodies in the core area of the national park,reducing chances of man-animal conflict in riverside villages,the report said.