Chitwan National Park has started collecting eggs from gharial crocodile nests along the Rapti River from today.
According to the park’s information officer, Abhinas Thapa Magar, 18 nests have been identified, and egg collection has begun from these nests.
The search for the nests started on March 14 (Chaitra 1). Now, the park has started collecting eggs from the nests they found. The search along the Rapti River was completed by April 22 (Baisakh 10).
Last year, 16 nests were found in the Rapti River, and eggs were collected from eight of them. This year, they expect to collect more than 200 eggs.
The collection is starting from the eastern part of the Rapti River this year. Last year, 247 eggs were collected and hatched.
Avinas Thapa Magar said, “Since more nests have been found this year, we expect to collect more eggs.”
The park collects eggs from nests that are at risk along the riverbank and brings them to a crocodile breeding center. The eggs are hatched there, and the young crocodiles are raised until they are ready to be released into different rivers.
The raised gharial crocodiles have mainly been released into the Narayani, Rapti, and Karnali rivers. Recently, they have only been released into the Rapti and Narayani rivers.
The breeding center was established in 1978, and crocodiles raised there have been released into rivers since 1981.
