December was the most eagerly awaited month of my one year sabbatical.
All decks had finally been cleared for my long awaited trip to the
Crocodile Bank at Mamallapuram. Nearly three months earlier my dad had
written to Romulus Whitaker the legendary snakeman who now runs the
Croc Bank asking whether I could spend some time there. There had been
no reply largely because Rom travels quite a bit but also because, as I
discovered, writing replies to letters is about the last thing these
animal-dedicated persons have time for.
I was in fact beginning to feel quite frustrated thinking that my trip
would not work out when Srilata Swaminadhan (with whom we stayed in
Jaipur) told my father that her sister lived at Mamallapuram and would
help out. Phone calls back and forth and finally it was all organised.
I was overjoyed when my dad's phone call came to Uncle Mano's house
saying I could go.
Babu, Uncle Mano's nephew, reached me by bus to the Croc Bank on the
9th of December and I spent one glorious month there, the nearest I got
to living in the wild. Although I was supposed to return home for
Christmas I begged to be let off and was in the seventh heaven when my
parents agreed. In fact I enjoyed my stay so much, that in March, I
returned to the Croc Bank again (for a brief while), as that was the
breeding season for crocodiles.
The Croc Bank is situated at Mamallapuram which is about 37 kms from
Chennai. It is a huge place with a beach just behind it.
Croc Bank is home to thousands of crocodiles, all of them housed in
pits of varying sizes with sloping walls to enable water to collect at
the centre so that the crocs can sunbathe on the upper part of the
slopes. Some of the huge crocodiles have individual pits but usually
the species is kept separately, male and female further separated from
each other. A large enclosure divided into several sections houses the
baby crocs.
In addition to crocodiles, snakes also have a significant position at
Croc Bank for snakes were Director Romulus Whitaker's first love, and
he is still known as the Snakeman, having founded Madras Snake Park
several years ago. There is, in fact, a big snake pit at the Croc Bank,
in which various kinds of snakes are kept. Here, snake venom is
extracted from the snakes by the Irulas. There is a separate fee for
visitors for entering the snake area. While the poisonous snakes are
kept in pots in a snake room, the King Cobras, of course, have special
separate rooms.
Croc Bank also has enclosures and pits for various kinds of turtles and
large aquariums with fish in them.
At one end of the campus is the library, well stocked with books and
magazines on all these creatures. Adjacent to it are the residential
quarters of researchers and guests (there were mainly foreigners at the
time I was there) who come to stay at Croc Bank from time to time. The
residential quarters are quite simple but comfortable. Each room has a
bed, desk and table, and an attached bath and toilet. I occupied one of
these rooms during my stay here.
The Irula families live in a separate area close to where the Snake
pits are located. The permanent staff which includes the Director,
Deputy Directory and others have their own individual houses located in
various places within the Croc Bank.
During my stay I became good friends with many of the people at the
Croc Bank including the six foot tall Director, Romulus Whitaker, whom
everyone calls Rom; his wife, Zai Whitaker; their sons Samir and
Nikhil; Harry Andrews, the Deputy Director who hails from Kerala;
Romaine, his wife and their son Tharak, Gerry the snake-catcher from
Bangalore and many others.
My stay at Croc bank was exciting throughout and I learnt a lot. For
the first few days, I was given my first assignment i.e., treating a
2-foot long turtle with infected skin. I used to apply ointment to its
feet and then put on some bandage. The next day, before repeating the
treatment, I had to feed the turtle with cabbage in water.
From turtles, I moved to big lizards i.e. monitor lizards and Green
Iguanas. The Green Iguana I handled was quite big-about the size of an
average dachshund. His tail measured two to three times the length of
his body if not more. From head to tail, he must have been about two
and a half metres long. But he had been in captivity for so long that
he was very friendly, though he had sharp claws and a spiny back and
head. Sometimes, when I used to guide special guests around, I would
take him out so that they could have a feel of his sandpapery skin. I
was surprised when Harry, the deputy director, told me the Iguana was
as old as I was.
Sometimes, I also handled monitor lizards. They were very strong, had
sharp claws and a very bad bite. Every time I jumped into the pit to
handle them they would rush into the water. I soon learned to be quick
enough, and would get them before they could reach the water. Once they
were cornered they would whip their tails about and inflate their
necks, hissing dangerously. Of course, you had a few of them running up
trees and then you couldn't do anything about it. I soon discovered
that though it looked scarier, it was easier to catch them in the
water.
The croc bank is filled with pits. Each of these pits is an enclosure
varying in size, depending on the size and type of reptile, and the
number of them in it. Every pit has a pond of sorts filled with water
for the reptiles to swim in or to drink. Most of the crocodile pits
were bare, but the monitor lizard pits were usually filled with trees
which they could climb to the highest branches. The branch ends were
kept within the range of the pits so that the monitor lizards did not
get out by trying to climb other trees or jumping out from the high
branches.
The ponds of the monitor lizards were almost waist deep with dark murky
water and you had to feel around until you touched the head, leg or
body of the monitor (they are less likely to bite in water). Then I
would feel around till I got the tail, slowly lift it to the surface
and grab the neck under the water. Their necks were so huge that I
could hardly get my fingers round them. On land, catching them by
grabbing the tail was much faster, but one had to avoid the biting head
by quickly grabbing the neck.
Once, when the Croc Bank staff wanted to get some monitors down from
the trees, they just took a long stick and pushed them over from the
height of almost a two storey building. They fell on the ground but
suffered no damage and just continued running around. I recall the day
Gerry challenged Nikhil "the bodybuilder" to pull a monitor lizard that
was half out of a burrow. At first he thought the monitor's tail would
break but though he tugged with all his might his rippling muscles
couldn't move an inch of the monitor.
In the mornings, I helped the workers clean the croc pits, a task which
I thoroughly enjoyed. We would jump into the pits with big sticks and
chase all the crocs into the water. Then we would clean out the croc
shit and the left overs of their food which included a lot of bones.
This exercise was usually done with a male worker first chasing the
crocs into the water. Then the remaining 3 to 4 women would help with
brooms, baskets and spades. Occasionally, we would have a crocodile
wanting us to get out of his pit instead. No matter how hard you hit
him on his nose he would chase you around until he would finally give
in, so to speak, and dash into the water with a big splash or
sometimes, glide gracefully to where he could join his friends who
sometimes numbered a thousand! (The Croc Bank had around seven thousand
crocs at the time I was there.)
I also had occasion to participate a few times in the operations
involved in shifting crocodiles from one location to another. That was
quite an adventure in itself!
One day Rom and Harry decided to shift the largest male Gharial in the
Croc Bank from one pit to another as it had broken its upper jaw in a
fight with another male during the previous breeding season.
Normally you try to catch a croc by throwing a sort of a small anchor
in and when the croc latches on to it you try and pull it out. Once it
is out, about 10-15 people quickly jump and sit on it. (That's the only
way to prevent a croc from getting back into water!). With its mouth
bound by rubber bands, the croc is then rolled onto a ladder, bound to
it, lifted and carried to the pit that it has to be transferred to. An
average adult croc is about 250 kg and about two to three metres long.
It takes 15-20 people to carry it.
Once it is released in the pool the ropes and rubber bands are removed
and the last unfortunate or brave man, depending on how you look at it,
makes a run for his life over the edge of the pond onto the safety of
dry land.
As we were transferring the male Gharial into a female mugger pit,
Harry jokingly yelled: "What do you think we will get-a Ghammer?" Of
course crocs only mate with others of their own species and there is no
way a Gharial and mugger will get together. We were in fact
transferring the male here in order to give it a period of rest and
recovery from fighting with other males.
Another time the exercise was because `Jaws III' needed female company.
Jaws III is the biggest captive salt water crocodile in India. He is
about 16 feet and ranks may be, 3rd or 4th in the world in terms of his
length. Therefore, after Part II of `The Great White Man-eating Shark'
was produced, called Jaws II, the Croc Bank rightly decided to name its
crocodile `Jaws III'.
Jaws III was a loner and would kill anything including other crocs
which fell into his pit. So he lived a lonely, if majestic life.
Whenever we jumped into his pit to clean it he would come charging at
us even if he was in the water. He seemed to give us more exercise than
all of us put together gave him. Anyway, the Croc Bank, after ten
years, finally felt it was time to find a him bride. Since he had on
more than one occasion bashed his head against a wall sensing a female
in the opposite pit, we knew he was ready!
The first female we caught was about to be thrown into his pit when I
asked to examine her. (I had just learnt how to sex them). I began to
feel inside the crocodile and felt a hemipenis! "It's a male," I
shouted. "Can't be," said Gerry, "let me check." After a few seconds
there was a reassuring nod from Gerry: "Yes, Rom, it's a male!"
"Rahul, Champion Sexer," cried Gerry.
One cannot tell if crocs are male or female by their outward
appearance. So, at the Croc Bank, after crocs grow to a certain length
they are sexed and markings are made on their scales. But workers can
sometimes make mistakes while sexing small crocs. That's perhaps how
the error occurred with the first bride we got for Jaws. I can't
imagine the plight of the poor chap had he been put in the pit with
Jaws. He would have been turned into minced meat in minutes.
After that episode we physically examined every supposed female we
caught to be doubly sure of not making any error and found that most of
the supposed females turned out to be males! By then, most of the crocs
had run into the deepest part of the pond and we had hardly any crocs
to choose a female from. Rom suggested chasing the females out of the
water onto the land, but that's not easy at all. So he came up with
another idea.
We got some iron gates and tied them together with a thick mesh net
over it all. Then we had to wade into the green water with the net in
front of us. This would effectively push the crocs from the deep water
onto the land. But the best of plans can go haywire and, instead, the
reverse started happening. The crocs from the land started coming into
the water colliding with those being driven out by us. Thereafter there
was general commotion in the water and all the crocs started thrashing
about. One almost got my neighbour's hand. I could feel the crocs at my
feet through the iron mesh that I held grimly onto. However we finally
accomplished our dangerous mission and when we had driven a sufficient
numbers onto the land we were able to select a female for Jaws.
Imagine Jaws' surprise when he saw a companion after all those years.
She was exactly half his size in length and width. Perhaps he was just
very excited or maybe it was due to a normal state of male aggression,
we don't know, because he just caught the hapless female croc between
his huge jaws and thrashed her about. "Croc barbecue is delicious",
said Tharak expecting the poor creature to perish any moment.
Fortunately or unfortunately, his wish was not fulfilled. The female
survived although with quite a few bloody marks. Thereafter she kept
her distance from the water as any sane creature would, avoiding Jaws
like the plague.
Much later, when I visited Croc Bank a second time, it was the breeding
season and there were a few nests to be excavated everyday. Each nest
would occupy about the space of a medium size basket. Each egg was at
least three times the size of a hen's egg and they usually numbered
around 30 to 35. Every female-and each one of these measured from about
2 m to 3.5 m-would determinedly guard her nest, refusing to budge when
we tried to chase her into the water in order to clean the pit.
There is now a problem of excess population of the mugger crocodiles
at the Croc Bank partly because they breed twice as much at the croc
bank compared to in the wild and also due to their high survival rate.
In the wild, at the most, one or two survive out of the 30-35 eggs as
many are lost to predators, etc., but here due to artificial
incubation, special enclosures, etc., a large number tend to survive.
Therefore the croc bank has stopped all breeding of this species which
meant that we had a surfeit of eggs for breakfast! We used to scramble
the salty eggs and finish them off with sauce, although a larger number
used to be sent raw for the monitor lizards' breakfast.
I sometimes went snake hunting with the Irulas. The Irulas are tribals
that are expert at snake catching. They formerly caught snakes for the
snake skin industry. After the ban, they went out of business and found
it difficult to make a living because they did not own land and did not
know how to cultivate fields or do any trade at all. After the croc
bank opened they were back in the business they excelled in, but this
time it was to save people and snakes with snake venom extraction.
Carrying only a crowbar and a few cloth bags, they would set out,
overturning every bush and digging any hole that showed signs of a
snake in it. Their crowbar had three uses, namely: (1) to shine light
into the burrow; (2) to dig the hole and (3) to handle the snake.
During my outings with the dark, short, curly haired snake hunters, we
caught striped keelbacks, ratsnakes and also black scorpions.
Apart from snakes the Irulas also caught rats. These rats, which
destroy crops and fields, build their burrows within the bunds. After
catching the rats, the Irulas would take away the rice which the rats
had stowed away and cook it to eat with the field rat meat. These
outings were long, hot and tiring but I found them nonetheless
enjoyable.
The Irulas also taught me a lot about snake handling. I learnt to
handle the four poisonous snakes of India (the "Big Four", i.e. Cobras,
Common Kraits, Russel's Vipers, Saw-scaled Vipers) and also Pit Vipers
and Pythons.
Snakes were kept in mud pots that were placed in the snake room (no
different from an ordinary bedroom). Outside, a board merely announced:
`Danger: Snakes Loose'. This was done to discourage intruders. But
really speaking, snakes were let loose only under supervision. There
was a small canal of water outside to prevent ants from entering the
room. (You may not believe it but ants can reduce a snake to a
skeleton.) Next, there was a little space outside the room and about 1
to 2 metres after, a smooth wall, about a metre high. I used to remove
the snakes from their pots, put them to drink water in the canal and
then clean the pots. During this exercise I would take the opportunity
to improve my skills at handling the snakes. Basically one has to hold
the tail with one hand and control the snake using the snake hook (a
long stick with an iron hook at the end) with the other.
Bites! That's practically the first question anyone asks me when I talk
of my croc bank vacation. Did I get bitten? Yes, several times, mostly
by accident. But sometimes I allowed myself to be bitten just for the
heck of it. I recall once when a ratsnake gave me a bite on the nose. I
tried to prevent Rom seeing it but he found out soon enough by the
blood on my shirt. A bite from a ratsnake is not painful but it bleeds
like a leaking tap. "Don't worry, Rahul," Rom said cheerfully, "the
venom will not take effect for another half an hour." (Ratsnakes are
non-poisonous.)
Another time I was getting a picture taken of myself with a baby
crocodile when it turned round and bit me. That was quite bad! Imagine
a sawing machine running over your hand. But I was cool, and happy that
I had been bitten by a crocodile!
Then I was dumb enough to try the bite of a wall lizard that Gerry had
caught to feed to his pit vipers. The scar, still on my hand, reminds
me also of the chequered keelback bite I got in Pune (the one which got
so bad that I couldn't wear my watch for a few days).
And on the last day of my stay at Croc Bank the red-eared turtle which
I was taking away as my gift and souvenir from Croc Bank bit me so bad
that I could see my flesh and I could barely use my hand for a few
days.
Now when I look back I think I was collecting bites in much the same
way that some people collect trophies. Although this may appear quite a
foolish thing to do and perhaps it was too (some of the bites were
quite painful), one good thing did come out of all those bites. I have
no paranoid fear of such bites any longer. I am very careful when I
handle reptiles and take all the precautions that I have been taught
but I know that I would not be terror stricken should I get bitten and
would know what remedial steps to take.
Apart from my practical studies, there was a huge library at the Croc
Bank where I would browse through several books on crocs, snakes,
monitors, turtles, the works. It was always with great pleasure that I
would search for information about something that I had learnt or seen
that day. And the best part is that although I didn't have to memorize
the facts for any examination, nothing of what I read has gone out of
my head.
And then, there was always time for fun. Sometimes I would go to
Harry's house where Tharaq and I played music or recorded songs. Other
times, I would watch a movie at Rom's. There was time for barbecues of
field rats, froglegs, frankfurters, parrot fish, chicken and beef,
rounded off with chocolate cake. The beach at the back was for swimming
during the day and catching crabs during the night.
One of the interesting happenings at the time that I was there was the
arrival of a film team from the magazine National Geographic to film
the King Cobras at the Bank. I became one of the many hands-on they had
for the job: I would assist in various ways like holding the flash,
helping with the setting up of shots, catching and re-catching the
frogs as they scampered off during the numerous retakes.
One lazy afternoon Tharaq suggested a haircut for me. My hair was by
then really long. In fact I had not put a scissor to it since the
beginning of my sabbatical. So now it stood nearly at shoulder length.
He told me he had one and a half months' experience in hair cutting. I
was thus persuaded to take up his offer of a "free" haircut in the
"latest style".
I explained in great detail to Tharaq how I wanted it cut and he
nodded attentively making a few suggestions here and there. Then he
started to work with the scissors, cutting and shaving here and there.
When he announced that he had finished he produced a mirror and I
looked into the face of an unrecognisable Rahul with a hairstyle of
triangles sitting amidst shaved parts and a long strand of hair in the
front. I looked crazier than any rock star! It was only then that I
learnt that Tharaq did not know the ABC of haircutting, much less
hairstyling and that he had just had a great time experimenting on my
head.
Anyway I decided that now was a good time to try out the "bald look"
and so I got to a proper barber and had my hair shaved off completely.
It was truly liberating. I took several pictures of myself at this time
with the reptiles at the croc bank to remember my days here and also to
record for posterity my new look.
I felt truly sorry when it was time for me to leave Croc Bank. I
promised everyone that I'd be back soon. I carried a souvenir with me-a
red-eared turtle (which I still have) and some turtle eggs.
I travelled through the night on a bus to Bangalore. At my foot was the
turtle in a box and I had left a small opening for her to breathe.
Suddenly I noticed that the turtle was out and was already making for
the door of the bus. I quickly caught her and put her back without any
of the sleeping passengers noticing it except for a dear old lady who
smiled and said, "Dropped your water bottle, son?"
Field Work Notes:
Crocodiles
Living millions of years before man, but today facing extinction...with
many myths about them and very little known about their nature. Many
are considered dangerous. None are considered useful. Who are these
creatures? They are called crocodiles, alligators and lizards.
There are 21 species of crocodiles and alligators in the world.
Three species of crocodiles are found in India, namely:
1) the Gharials-which are fish-eating crocodiles;
2) the Muggers; and
3) the Salt-water crocodiles.
The biggest and the most dangerous of all crocodiles in the world is
the salt water crocodile, which can grow upto 25 feet. It is the only
crocodile that can live in the sea for a long time. The Nile crocodile
of Africa is yet another deadly species. Fossils of three other extinct
species of crocodiles have also been found in India.
These cold blooded animals have evolved with dinosaurs millions of
years ago and are more closely related to birds than to snakes or
reptiles. Being cold blooded they control their body temperature by
seeking shady, sunny spots or different levels in water. They often
bask with their jaws open, which probably helps them to keep cool.
Their eyes, nose and ears are positioned in a straight line along with
head and snout. They have good eyesight and a good sense of smell, and
can hear very well. Their tail is very strong and helps them in
swimming. They have a very low metabolic rate and thus need to hunt
only every few days. They can decrease their metabolic rate and stay
under water for a long time. Alligators have been known to stay under
water for upto 6 hours. They do not make any unnecessary movements but
can move very fast even on land when necessary. Small salties can
gallop at a speed of 48 kph for short distances.
Crocodiles are found in large and small rivers, lakes, mangroves, and
in brackish and fresh water. When a baby crocodile hatches, it is just
about three quarters of a foot (25-30 cms) in length. In a few years it
matures into an adult. Maturity depends upon size rather than on age.
Generally males mature slower than females.
In the wild, a female will take between 5-7 years to mature whereas
males will take 9-11 years. Gharials take longer to mature; about 8-10
years for the female and 12 years for the male. In captivity, such as
in the Madras Crocodile Bank, females mature in four years and males in
five.
The average size for maturity for a Mugger is-male (2 metres) and
female (1.6 metres). Males of Gharials and Salties mature at three and
a half metres and females at three metres.
Mugger crocodiles breed in between February and April. Salties breed in
April and Gharials between the last week of March to the second week of
April.
Breeding depends on environmental conditions. In the breeding season
males often fight for the right to court with several females. During
courtship each pair may blow bubbles, rub noses, raise their snout and
periodically submerge and re-emerge. Different species show different
courtship displays. Gharials, for example, often court each other by
making a loud buzzing sound. Mating occurs under water with the male
mounted on top of the female.
The average gestation period is between 35-60 days. The gestation for a
Mugger is 35-40 days and for Gharials and Salties, 40-65 days. The
temperature at which eggs are incubated and the moisture content of the
environment (humidity) influence the sex within the embryo.
Crocodiles will either dig a hole about 30 cms deep or pile up leaves
to incubate their eggs. They sometime splash water on the nest to
control the temperature. In mugger crocs, females are exclusively
produced at constant temperature of 28¡C through 31¡C. At 32.5¡C only
males are produced. Both sexes in varying proportion are produced at
31.5 to 33¡C.
The female guards the nest. At the time of hatching the young start
croaking so the mother (sometimes even the father) digs open the nest.
Then she cracks some of the eggs with her teeth to set free the young
and carries them to the water in her mouth. The adult crocodiles
continue to guard the young until they are about 5-7 months old.
Crocodiles have many uses in nature's ecosystem. They help keep the
environment clean by eating the carcasses that would otherwise rot.
They capture the diseased, wounded and weaker prey thus letting only
the strongest survive and thus maintaining a healthy population and
keeping up the genetic quality of their prey species.
In the dry season, wallows and tunnels dug by crocs provide essential
water for other animals, turtles and fish. Many animals depend upon
crocs for food for e.g. the sacred Ibis and monitor lizard will eat the
eggs of the Nile crocodile. Crocs are also exceptionally resistant to
disease and thus may be of great use in medical research.