Bhubaneswar, Aug. 5 -- More than 1,500 baby saltwater crocodiles have broken out of their eggshells to make their way to water-bodies in and around Odisha's Bhitarkanika national park,
thus re-establishing the region as the country's largest habitat of these animals, officials said
today.
Bhitarkanika, according to forest officials, houses around 70 per cent of India's estuarine crocodile
or saltwater crocodiles, conservation of which was started way back in 1975. The salt-water
crocodile population in Bhitarkanika has increased manifold from 96 in 1975 to 1826 so far.
The mortality rate of baby crocs is exceedingly high. Female crocodiles lay 50 to 60 eggs and the hatchlings usually emerge from the nests after 70 to 80 days of incuba...