Madras Crocodile Bank Trust - History

History

Large-scale commercial hunting of Indian crocodilians for their skin began towards the end of the 19th century, and by the 1970s, crocodile populations were severely depleted. The Madras Crocodile Bank was conceived in 1973 and started on 26 August 1976 by herpetologist Romulus Whitaker and his wife Zai Whitaker at the time when the Indian government protected all three species of Indian crocodilians under the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972. The real push for captive breeding of crocodiles came after the launch of the Indian Crocodile Conservation Project by the Indian government in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1975. The bank was started to protect India's dwindling crocodile population and to preserve the art of snake catching. Along with other like-minded people such as Rajamani, Whitaker founded the bank to conserve the three species of reptiles namely, the mugger (Crocodylus paluster), the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), and the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus).

The CrocBank developed a captive breeding program for freshwater turtles and tortoises in 1981 and it successfully bred gharials for the first time in 1989.

In 1984, the bank collaborated with Dr. J.W. Lang from University of North Dakota, who initiated a major project on the reproductive biology of the mugger crocodile. The research infrastructure at the bank was augmented by the funds for this project, chiefly a well-equipped laboratory and the collaboration with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. This project was continued every year between 1984 and 1994 by Harry Andrews under the supervision of Dr. Lang, who made periodic visits to the bank. The project currently focuses on reptile reproduction, egg incubation, and temperature-dependent sex determination. A 3-year study of the biology and conservation of the mugger crocodile was conducted in the wild and a field station was established on the Moyar River near Bhavanisagar in Tamil Nadu.

Since 1987, studies on breeding biology and growth of lizards, particularly the larger monitor lizards, were conducted in collaboration with researchers in the United Kingdom and Germany. During the period 1989-1991, amphibians studies were carried out on the species Rana hexadactyla, which was featured in BBC Wildlife Magazine in 1996. In 1990, the MCBT newsletter was transformed into a scientific journal, with an international editorial board and a rigorous peer-review system for the acceptance of technical papers for publication. In 1992, a scientific committee consisting of scientists and trustees was instituted and is charged with directing and coordinating research. In 1993, the bank conducted surveys on wetlands and remote area sensing. This was followed by extensive studies on sea snakes, marine turtles, bats, and other small mammals and studies on herpetofauna, biogeography, resource use, land use, rain-water harvesting and coral reef socioeconomics, in addition to protected area management planning, ecologically suitable management planning.

The bank was started with only 30 mugger adults, which grew to 8,000 by the 1990s. Although the breeding program was a great success and many crocodiles were initially released back into the wild, this practice has essentially stopped now due to the loss of habitat. By 2010, there were 14 species of crocodilians at the bank.

In 1989, as a division of the Bank, the Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team (ANET) base station was set up on 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land in Wandoor, on the southern tip of South Andaman Island to conduct research programs towards understanding of the diversity, distribution, and ecology of the islands' fauna and flora. In 2003, with the addition of turtles, lizards and snakes, the bank was renamed the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Center for Herpetology. The centre is one of the largest reptile zoos in the world.

In 2005, Rom Whitaker was given a Whitley Award and used the money to set up the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) to help preserve the hyper-diverse animals and ecosystems that make up the rainforest of the Western Ghats. In 2006, Rom was presented with the Sanctuary-ABN AMRO Lifetime Service Award.