With their impossibly long, needle-thin snouts, gharials look like they wandered out of the age of dinosaurs. These river-dwelling crocodilians of the Indian subcontinent are built almost entirely for one job: catching fish. But their strange looks hide an even stranger reality, gharials are now among the most endangered crocodilians on Earth.
Here are verified facts about gharials, from their odd snout ornament to why their population crashed by 98 percent.
Gharials are native to the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in river systems such as the Ganges, Chambal, and Brahmaputra in India and Nepal.
Male gharials can grow to roughly 20 feet (about 6 meters) long, making them among the longest living crocodilians.
Female gharials are smaller, typically reaching about 8.5 to 15 feet long.
A gharial's long, narrow snout holds more than 100 needle-like teeth, perfectly suited for gripping slippery fish.
Those teeth are thin and interlocking rather than built for crushing, since gharials feed almost exclusively on fish rather than large prey.
Adult males grow a bulbous knob on the tip of their snout called a 'ghara,' named after an Indian clay pot; it amplifies a loud buzzing sound and helps blow bubbles to attract mates.
Gharials are classified as Critically Endangered, with roughly 650 or fewer mature individuals estimated to remain in the wild.
Wild gharial numbers have plunged by an estimated 98 percent since the 1940s, from around 10,000 to today's small, fragmented populations.
The biggest threats to gharials are dam construction, sand mining, entanglement in fishing nets, and declining fish stocks in their rivers.
Gharials are legally protected in both India and Nepal, and captive-breeding and reintroduction programs are working to rebuild wild populations.
Gharials are apex predators within their river ecosystems, feeding almost entirely on fish.
Unlike broader-snouted crocodiles, gharials rarely take mammals or birds, their slender jaws are adapted for snatching fish, not grappling large prey.
Like other crocodilians, gharials swallow stones called gastroliths, which scientists believe help with buoyancy control rather than digestion.
Gharials are strong swimmers with a streamlined body and a powerful, laterally flattened tail, though their weak limbs make them clumsy on land.
A clear third eyelid, called a nictitating membrane, protects a gharial's eyes while it swims underwater.
Gharials are cold-blooded reptiles that bask on sandbanks to regulate their body temperature.
Wild gharials can live for several decades, with typical lifespans estimated between 40 and 60 years.
Female gharials bury their eggs in sandy riverbanks, and the eggs typically hatch after about 70 to 90 days of incubation.
Gharial hatchlings measure about 15 inches long at birth and face heavy predation risk from birds, fish, and other animals.
Gharials often bask together in groups on sandbars, a social behavior that is unusual among crocodilians.
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