Hyderabad, May 19 -- This April, as India quietly celebrated five decades of dedicated crocodile conservation, it's a fitting moment to reflect on what it truly takes to save the last living dinosaurs of our land. These ancient reptiles, so misunderstood, yet so critical to our river ecosystems, have weathered the test of time. But in today's rapidly changing landscape, they rely more than ever on our understanding, compassion, and resolve.

My journey with crocodiles began not in the pages of biology textbook but in the serene wilds of the Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary, some 70 km from Hyderabad. It was the early 1980s, and I was on a birdwatching trip with the erstwhile Birdwatching Society of Andhra Pradesh [BSAP]. We journeyed through ro...