INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightAnirudh VasavaImage caption
There are about 200 mugger crocodiles in the region
In some
villages in India's western state of Gujarat, locals live cheek by jowl with mugger crocodiles, which are considered extremely dangerous
Janaki Lenin visited the area to investigate an unusual coexistence."The crocodiles will come out only around 10:00," the woman advised me
as she hung up her laundry on a recent winter morning
I was not on a wildlife safari
I was in the courtyard of her house in Malataj village, scanning the surface of the pond beyond her front door.It looked like any other pond
But lurking among the fuchsia blossoms and green pads of water lilies were mugger crocodiles, one of India's three crocodilian species
And villagers - such as the housewife speaking to me - know the reptiles' habits from generations of coexisting with them
In most places, the sight of even a single crocodile would be enough to send locals scurrying in fear
But not in Charotar - a 4,000-sq-km (1,544-sq-mile) area bracketed by the Sabarmati and Mahi rivers in Gujarat.Image copyrightNiyati
PatelImage caption
Locals, including children, roam freely alongside the reptiles
There are at least 200
resident mugger crocodiles in some 30 villages in Charotar, according to surveys by the Voluntary Nature Conservancy, a local non-profit
The region also packs around 600 people per sq km
Every pond in the area sports a sign warning of mugger crocodiles
But these pools are central to the daily life of villagers
So residents ignore the signs and wade in to swim, bathe, do their laundry, wash their cattle and grow water chestnuts
The crocodiles, meanwhile, drift in the same ponds, gobbling fish and raising their young
They clamber onto the banks, bask in the sun, sleep and crawl through grass along the same paths where cattle graze and people, including
Every day, humans and muggers go about their business without disturbing or even worrying about each other
What do we know about mugger crocodilesMuggers get their name from the Hindi word for crocodile, "maggar mach".They are a medium-sized
crocodile, with adults ranging between three and four metres in length.Mugger crocodiles used to be widespread throughout the subcontinent
Their population declined steeply through the 1950s and 1960s as hunters targeted them for their skin and meat, and people consumed their
With conservation efforts, their numbers now range between 3,000 and 4,200 in India
They are also found in Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Iran.Charotar, which means "pot of gold" in the local language, is named for the
bounty that its farmers reap
Fields of tobacco stretch for miles in every direction with no sign of any refuge for wildlife
So, where did the crocodiles come from Some say they have always inhabited Charotar
Others claim that the rulers of the Gaekwad dynasty - which ruled the area from the early 18th Century until India's independence in 1947 -
released the crocodiles in to these ponds so they could hunt them, but there is no historical evidence that supports this theory
One thing is certain though: the muggers are not recent migrants
Image copyrightBhaumikcha RajdeepImage caption
Muggers across the world killed 18 people in 2018
But the
behaviour of Charator's muggers is very unusual
Muggers are the third most dangerous crocodile species, killing 18 people around the world in 2018, according to CrocBITE, a global database
About 40km (25 miles) from Charotar, for instance, muggers in the Vishwamitri river are reported to have injured eight people and killed two
others in 2011 and 2012, writes reptile expert Raju Vyas
The recent decision to move 300 to 500 crocodiles out of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river to make way for a seaplane terminal for
instance, has worried experts
They say that relocated crocodiles don't stay put where they are released
They will try to return to their homes, endangering the lives of unsuspecting people they encounter along the way and aggravating the
already hostile relationship between people and crocodiles in these areas.But in Charotar, the Voluntary Nature Conservancy has documented
only 26 attacks in 30 years
In eight of these incidents, humans escaped with minor injuries and in 2009, a nine-year-old girl died from an attack
The other 17 incidents involved livestock
Image copyrightJanaki LeninImage caption
Signboards warn people about the crocodiles
In Malataj, the
forest department has built an enclosure close to the bank so people can use the water while staying safe from crocodiles
But the reptiles are harmless, scoff villagers who did not want the structure and refuse to maintain it
Several gaps in the fencing could easily allow a stealthy predator to grab an arm or leg
But the muggers ignore the many opportunities every day
Instead, they seem to live up to their human neighbours' expectations and leave them alone
Locals regularly make excuses for the reptiles
In the village of Petli for instance, a family living on the edge of a pond lost a goat to muggers
Accepting the loss in his stride, an elderly man said: "It must have belonged to the crocodile
So it took it."Read more wildlife stories from India Tunnels dug by the reptiles riddled the bank beside his hut
The crocodiles escape the summer heat in these deep burrows
These excavations sometimes extend beneath roads putting them at risk of collapse
These burrows also pose a threat to houses along the banks - the floor of a house in Malataj recently gave way
Luckily, no-one was injured.Despite these inconveniences, the Charotaris are proud of their muggers
Although the village of Deva has the highest number of the reptiles in the area, Malataj insists on branding itself the "village of
crocodiles".Residents have conducted a funeral for a dead mugger and built a shrine to goddess Khodiyar - a local deity who is depicted
standing beside a bejewelled crocodile- behind the now defunct enclosure
Colourful images of her grace the doorways of many houses in Malataj
Image copyrightRom WhitakerImage caption
Goddess Khodiyar is a local deity
To assume the goddess is the
reason for the charming amiability between people and reptiles in these parts would be simplistic
In surveys, many residents profess to liking the animals
Durgeshbhai Patel, the village chief, even said they plan to excavate another pond so the muggers have more space.As the sun burnt through
the morning chill, the crocodiles hauled themselves out of the water to bask
I counted a dozen, but there were many more I could spot in the distance
Passers-by crowded around a vendor of hot fenugreek bhajiyas, a batter-fried snack, on a bridge outside Malataj
Below, in a dry overgrown canal, a mugger crocodile lay half-way out of its tunnel, absorbing the sun's rays.Nobody reacted
It was just another day in their lives.
