"Lala A.K. Singh" <laksingh2005@...> wrote:
Dear cogombra,Gharial mother chooses a high slopy sand bank. She climbs up the bank and digs a pit with hind limbs; lays all the eggs in it and covers it back with sand. She uses front limb to draw in sand and hind limbs to ram the sand to fill up the nest.V : Preliminary observations on maternal behaviour. Indian Forester, 103 (2) : 140-149). The mother digs out the hatchlings and carries them to water like any other croc, although it is more laborious for her. Some hatchlings follow the mother upto water.Most important:-- the empty egg shells remain scattered at the site and offer as recognition points for hatchlings. The hatchlings tend to congregate near it along with their mother.In communal nesting sites, (Rao, R. J. and Singh, L. A. K.(1993): Communal nesting by Gharial, Gavialis gangeticus (Gmelin) (Reptilia, Crocodilia) in national chambal Sanctuary. J.Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 90(1) : 17-22. ) the dominant mother takes over most of the hatchlings. At this time the hatchlings tend to reorganize themselves without restricting themselves to their original site of hatching.I will try to locate the two papers cited and may be any other relevant to maternal care in gharial, and send you these.Regards.Lala A K Singh
cogombra <cogombra@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:Dear All,
Modern gharials dug up their nests in an overbank' floodplain or
pond,the female lay their eggs in, and afterwards covers them with sand.
I cannot find a reference where it explains what happen next. I
suppose the crocodile babies harched and the broken egg is buried
afterwards with sand.
Please, I would appreciate if some body can help me here.
Dr. Lala A. K. Singh, Prakruti Bhavan, Neelakantha Nagar Bhubaneswar, Orissa, PIN: 751012, INDIA
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