Activities
One of the main attractions of the bank is the Crocodile Conservation Center. It is the largest breeding center of crocodiles in India and has bred thousands of crocodiles since its inception. The captive breeding program at the crocodile bank was so successful that by the 1990s there were over 8,000 crocodiles in residence, thousands had been reintroduced to the wild, and more sent to zoos and wildlife parks around the world. The CrocBank has supplied crocodile eggs, snakes, water monitor, lizards and iguanas for breeding programs and for exhibits. The bank also provides surplus reptiles for transferring to other zoos and exchange programs. Since 1976, over 1,500 crocodiles and several hundred eggs have been supplied to various state forest departments for restocking programmes in the wild and for setting up breeding facilities in other states in India and neighboring countries. All three of the original species that were bred at the bank (the mugger, the gharial and the saltwater crocodile) remain endangered, while the gharial is critically endangered and now faces extinction. The CrocBank also successfully breeds several species of threatened chelonians, including two listed as critically endangered. The bank is a coordinating zoo of the Central Zoo Authority of India for the breeding programmes for endangered species, including rock python, king cobra and Ganges softshell turtle, as per the National Zoo Policy adopted by the Government of India in 1988. The National Zoo Policy (1998) states several objectives that zoos should pursue including education, publications, and breeding rare and endangered species. In 2010, the Bank also bred the rare Tomistoma crocodile, which is in the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
In 2003, a 10-year program for the conservation of freshwater turtles and tortoises was initiated by the bank in collaboration with government forest departments from concerned states across India. In May 2004, the bank successfully bred one of the world's most critically endangered turtles, the Indian painted roof turtle, Batagur kachuga, for the first time ever in captivity. The species is protected under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and is listed under the Action Plan Rating I of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. The bank is home to another near endemic Batagur turtle, Batagur baska. Incidentally, recent evidence suggests that this species is extinct in the wild and only 13 individuals remain in captivity, including 4 adult females of which 2 are at the CrocBank. The bank sends 50% of its stock of the red-crowned roof turtle to the Uttar Pradesh forest department to introduce into the wild. In 2004, concerned parties created the Gharial Multi-Task Force (renamed to Gharial Conservation Alliance in 2008) to create a specialist organization dedicated to saving gharials from extinction.
Research in freshwater turtles and tortoises in India—home to 28 species of freshwater turtles and tortoises some of which are extremely endangered—started in the early 1980s when Prof. Edward Moll of Eastern Illinois University accepted an Indo-American Fellowship for a year-long sabbatical and based his studies and surveys, conducted throughout India, at the CrocBank. The bank's research biologists have studied freshwater turtles in the Chambal River in Uttar Pradesh on a WWF-India grant. A total of 300 individuals of 20 species are kept as part of the Centre's ongoing research program. In addition, the bank also conducts research on the biology of crocodiles, turtles and monitors lizards.
The CrocBank runs two permanent and fully staffed field bases (the Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team and the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station) and usually also has several field projects running.
The park is home to one of the only approved snake venom extraction centres in India, the Irula Snake Catchers' Industrial Cooperative Society, which has a daily venom extraction show for the public at its snake farm. The cooperative society was officially registered on 19 December 1978, and venom extraction was started on 16 December 1982. Started with 26 members, the membership of the society rose to 350 by 2001, and the society now has about 344 members and is the largest venom-producing center in India with annual sales of over US$15,000.
The bank is planning to procure green anacondas under an international exchange programme. Four adult green anacondas, with an average length of 4 metres (13 ft), are being brought for the first time from the Danish Crocodile Exhibition in Denmark in exchange for marsh crocodiles, critically endangered gharials and African slender snouted crocodiles. As part of the efforts to give due importance to its exhibition potential, along with education and research, the bank was also engaged in talks with some conservation and breeding centres to procure Komodo dragons. The bank also plans to get as many as 21 spotted pond turtles from Hong Kong.
The bank conducts environmental education programme for schools and villages including nature camps, field trips, education programmes for the nature clubs, training workshops for teachers, youth from fishing villages and other resource personnel. Frequent mobile exhibition-cum-awareness programmes for the nearby fishing villages along the East Coast Road are also conducted. The bank also has a multi-puppet theatre facility for children.
The bank publishes a biannual herpetology journal called Hamadryad and is home to the largest library of herpetological literature in India. Research in the field of herpetology within the bank has resulted in over 600 scientific publications, books, reports, newspaper and magazine articles and films. The bank also has an animal-adoption programme. The CrocBank serves as a consultant on reptile management and conservation issues by a wide range of organisations including Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Wide Fund for Nature, IUCN, National Geographic Society and the governments of India, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bhutan, Brunei, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
A partial listing of the institutions that the CrocBank is affiliated with, including committees, membership, collaboration, consultation, editorial, and networking, as of 2011:
- The World Conservation Union (IUCN)
- IUCN/SSC Crocodile Specialist Group
- IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtles Specialist Group
- IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group
- IUCN/SSC Indian Subcontinent Reptile & Amphibian Group
- IUCN/SSC Captive Breeding Specialist Group
- IUCN/SSC Sustainable Use of Wild Species Group
- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad
- World Congress of Herpetology
- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)—India & International
- Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun
- Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai
- Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad
- Chicago Herpetological Society, USA
- Fauna and Flora International, UK
- Development Alternatives, New Delhi
- Irula Tribal Women’s Welfare Society, Chennai
- Irula Snake Catchers’ Cooperative Society, Chennai
- International Association of Zoo Educators, UK
- Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, UK
- Niligiri Wildlife Association, Ootacamand
- Central Zoo Authority of India, New Delhi
- Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History, Coimbatore
- Madras Veterinary College, Chennai
- Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai
- Pondicherry University, Pondicherry
- Andaman & Nicobar Islands State Wildlife Board, Port Blair
- Andaman & Nicobar Islands State Level Environmental Council, Port Blair.
- Andaman & Nicobar Islands 'Monitoring Committee for the Working Plan for the South Andaman Division'.
- Andaman & Nicobar Coastal Zone Management Authority.
- Andamans Science Association, Port Blair
- Society for the Andaman & Nicobar Ecology, Port Blair
- Auroville Index Seminum, Tamil Nadu
- Ashoka Innovators for the Public, New Delhi
- Kalpavriksh, Pune
- Coral Reef Monitoring Network—South East Asia, Sri Lanka
- Survival International, UK
- Trust for Environmental Education (TREE), Chennai
- Zoo Outreach Organisation, Coimbatore
- The Indian people’s Tribunal on Environment &Human Rights, Mumbai
- The Wildlife Trust of India, New Delhi
- Smithsonian Institution, USA
- Marine Conservation Society, UK
- UNEP/Conservation for Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Germany
Read more about this topic: Madras Crocodile Bank Trust
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