Say Hello To LA Zoo's Newest Residents: Gharials

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The four newest residents of the Los Angeles Zoo are a group of gharials, which is an endangered crocodile species once common in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, officials announced Wednesday.

The four gharials -- one male and three females -- were hatched at the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust & Centre For Herpetology in Madras, India, which the L.A. Zoo said is the world's most successful breeding program for gharials.

Most of the gharials bred at the center are released into the wild, but a few are sent to zoos in North America to help prevent extinction, as the species nearly died out in the 1970s.

"Receiving these gharials hatched in India was a very long and tedious journey, but we're very honored to be one of nine zoos in North America that are a part of the Species Survival Plan for gharials," said Ian Recchio, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Los Angeles Zoo.

"We haven't quite cracked the code on breeding this species of crocodile in North America. The first egg to ever hatch in the Western Hemisphere just happened last year. But, it is our goal to try and breed these gharials when they reach sexual maturity in the next five to seven years."

The gharials are set to be ready for public viewing on Thursday.

By City News Service

Photo by Tad Motoyama/Los Angeles Zoo