Male partner proposed for rare white crocodile ''Gori''

Kendrapada, Dec 13 (UNI) Once again a healthy male salt-water crocodile has been proposed for mating for the 31-year-old female captive albino ''Gori''.

The female crocodile, housed inside the Dangmal Crocodile Research Centre in Bhitarkanika National Park, was considered as one of the two rare crocodiles found in Asia.

Being the treasure trove of Bhitarkanika National Park, Gori has come to limelight several times in the past for its typical behavioural instinct and deteriorated health condition over the years.

According to senior scientist Dr Sudhakar Kar of the Orissa wildlife Department, Gori, being a grown up, needs a male partner for mating.

Notwithstanding that the female crocodile has rejected all the male partners introduced to her in the past, the wildlife officials are taking another chance to introduce a wild male crocodile for mating in the near future.

The wildlife officials have recently discussed with renowned herpetologist Romilous Whittakar of the Madras Crocodile Bank and other wildlife experts to arrange a male crocodile for Gori from the crocodile bank in Chennai.

Gori, despite having a poor health condition, continued to attract a large number of visitors to the Bhitarkanika park. The forest officials had tried in 1985, 1987, 1990 and 1992 for the mating of the albino crocodile by releasing wild male crocodile in the pen.

However, the search for her male partner for Gori was stopped after she had turned violent and injured the male partner introduced to her. She even lost her left eye in the battle forcing the forest officials to shelve the mating plan.

Gori was born during an artificial hatchlings in the Dangmal Crocodile Research Centre from the eggs collected from the creeks of Bhitarkanika in 1975 and since then she has been kept in a specially constructed pond. Last year the forest officials had renovated the pond to make it suitable for the albino crocodile to live in the pen. The wildlife conservationists had earlier suggested that she should be released free into the wild.

But the idea was dropped after a senior wildlife official stated that since Gori was hatched and breed by the department as a part of crocodile conservation programme she should not be released in the wild.

Even the Chennai based crocodile research farm had also been approached which opposed the release of the captive Gori into the wild, said official sources. The forest department had planned to fix a satellite transmitter on Gori to observe its activities while being released in the wild but the plan failed to materalice.

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