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Name : Gharial ( Gavialis gangeticus )
Where it be : fresh water rivers in India and Nepal
Gharials split from other crocodilian species over 40 million years ago.
What it eats : Fish . juvenile also eat insects , frogs and crustaceans .
Why it ’s awing : The gharial is know for its long , skinny nozzle , which looks like it got slam dance in a room access .
An adult male has a " ghara " at the end of its snout : a lightbulb - shaped bump , named after a bulbous Indian pot . This off-the-wall gawk looks attractive to females and helps males woo their mates by blowing bubbles and creating a strange love song .
Unlike other crocs, gharials aren’t ambush predators, instead using their long snouts to snatch fish from the water and gobble them down.
This ghara " partly covers the crocodile ’s nostrils and act as a vocal resonating chamber , creating a cheap , buzzing audio when the gharial vocalizes , " according toSmithsonian ’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute .
If these crocodilian pickup dividing line are successful and the male attracts a distaff — or several , as gharials are heteroicous — the pair mate . This normally happens in December or January . In March or April , when the ironic time of year arrives , female compass nests and lie down around 40 eggs .
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These declamatory eggs are the freehanded of all crocodilian eggs . Weighing up to 6 troy ounce ( 170 grams ) , they ’re about the same weighting as ahockey Robin Goodfellow . Once fully grown , grownup can reach15 feet(4.5 meters ) and , on average , weigh around 350 pounds(160 kilograms ) .
" As with all crocodilians , the sex of the hatchling is regulate during incubation , " agree to Smithsonian . brooding can take between 60 and 80 days . baby bide with their mother for several weeks , or sometimes months , after hatching .
Although they look likecrocodiles or alligator , gharials part off from other crocodilian species over40 million age ago .
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Unlike crocs and gators , gharials do n’t scupper their prey . or else , nobble their snout from left to rightallows them to observe vibrations in the water . Using this method , they see nearbyfishand chomp on them with their interlocking tooth .
These animals are well - adapted to weak habitats but ca n’t move well on state because theirleg muscles are too weak , so they slide on their abdomen to get around above water .
Gharials were once plentiful between Pakistan and Myanmar , with an estimated5,000 to 10,000individuals in the state of nature in the 1940s . They are nowcritically endangeredas a result of hunting , sportfishing and home ground red , with around 650 mature somebody left . wrapped breeding , nest monitoring and other conservation activities helped boost this numeral from around 250 in 2006 .
