(Dorsal View.)
(Photograph from U. S. National Museum.)
Fig. 14. Skull of Gavial.
(Lateral View.)
(Photograph from U. S. National Museum.)
It is typically an inhabitant of tidal waters and is sometimes found swimming at sea, out of sight of land; it seldom goes inland to any great distance from the sea. It is a man-eating species and many human lives are said to be destroyed by it in India and surrounding countries. A British “blue book” states that in British India 244 deaths were caused by Crocodilia in the year 1910.
In captivity it is savage and untamable. Ditmars, in speaking of three specimens that he had in captivity, says they were “positively the most vicious reptiles” he had ever seen.
The Indian Gavial, Gavialis gangeticus
This animal, which inhabits the Ganges and other rivers of northern India, is, with the possible exception of the preceding species, the largest of the Crocodilia; it is said to reach a length of thirty feet, which is twice that of a very large Florida alligator. As previously noted its snout is extremely long and narrow ([Figs. 13 and 14]), with a large, fleshy hump at the tip, that projects above the muddy water in which the animal lies concealed.
It is a timid animal and, in spite of its huge size, dashes quickly into the water on the approach of man, to whom it is seldom or never dangerous. Its Indian name, gharial, from which its generic name has been corrupted, means fish-eater, since its food consists, it is said, largely if not entirely of fish.