Four Cubs Hatched Out from Pilpil Crocodile Eggs at Karamjal Breeding Center, Bangladesh
Sadman Sad
At the Karamjal Wildlife Breeding Center in the eastern Sundarbans of Bagerhat, only 4 of the 44 eggs of the saltwater crocodile Pilpil hatched. After laying 44 eggs on the bank of the pond at the breeding center on June 12, the eggs were collected, and 21 of them were placed in the house of the eggplant, 12 in the old incubator, and 11 in the new incubator.
Of these, four chicks hatched out of 11 eggs kept in the new incubator on Saturday morning (August 05, 2020). In the tidal waters, the nesting place of the laying their eggs on the bank of the pond of the breeding center was submerged, and all the 12 eggs kept in the old incubation, including 21 eggs, were destroyed.
On May 29, another crocodile, Juliet, laid 52 eggs, but none of them hatched. In the last three years, no baby was born from the eggs of crocodile Juliet and Pilpil.
Crocodile breeding center officials said in the footage from the baby’s eggs that a young crocodile named Alexander had been placed with Juliet and Pilpil a year ago to replace the old male crocodile named Romeo.
The crocodiles’ total number in the crocodile breeding center stood at 199, including four hatched from Pilpil’s eggs on Saturday.
The Crocodile Breeding Center is carrying out breeding activities with two female crocodiles named Pilpil and Juliet. MD. Azad Kabir, Officer in Charge (OC) of Sundarbans Chandpai Range in Karamjal Wildlife Breeding and Tourism Center, said that out of 11 eggs kept in the new incubator this Saturday (August 05, 2020) morning, four chicks hatched.
In 2020, Pilpil laid 44 eggs, and Juliet laid 52 eggs. Of these, Pilpil had four babies, but no babies came from Juliet’s eggs. In 2016, 18 and 19, not a single baby of Pilpil and Juliet’s eggs hatched. However, for this reason, he is blaming the lack of proper temperature at the right time and the fault of the center’s incubator.
Using this experience, it will be possible to hatch more babies from crocodile eggs by keeping them in a new incubator in the future. The Department of Forest, Bangladesh, started this crocodile breeding center at Karamjal in 2000 to breed crocodiles of the endangered saltwater species in the Sundarbans.
The Karamjal Crocodile Breeding Center currently has a total of 199 crocodiles, both large and small. The Department of Forest has also released 97 adult crocodiles from the breeding center into rivers in the Sundarbans.
Source: Green Page Bangla
