Crocodile dad takes care of hundreds of babies

• Wildlife photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee visited the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary in India last year.
• He was able to watch a gharial dad with his hundreds of babies he’s been protecting!
• Dhritiman hoped that his photos would create awareness and consciousness on animal conservation, especially for gharials who are critically endangered.

And the Father of the Year award goes to a gharial dad.

In hopes to catch a glimpse of a unique-looking crocodile, wildlife photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee visited the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary in India last year.

Dhritiman was in luck for spotting a gharial, a fish-eating crocodile with a long, thin snout perfect for catching fish. This large crocodile is critically endangered, with only around 250 adults left in the world. So, the photographer took the chance to watch the gharial, who is apparently an amazing gharial dad with hundreds of offspring!

“Generally, one male mates with eight or nine females and so the male alone guards the babies of all females he mates with,” he told The Dodo.

Dhritiman spent almost a week watching the gharial dad. With all the babies under the crocodile’s custody, he was sure it was not an easy task. With his small snout, the gharial couldn’t carry them in their mouths, like how other crocodiles do to protect their babies.

Instead, the gharial dad carries his babies on his back to keep them safe. With this and all the things he needed to do for his offspring, he surely had no time to relax.

“I found he was super protective and aggressive if someone came close to them,” Dhritiman said. “The male always stays close to the babies for 24 hours. Sometimes the babies lay on their father’s back.”

Dhritiman was happy to have observed the committed dad and his big gharial family. He had the chance to give conservationists the hope that this nearly extinct animal may be conserved.

“With the help of my images, I can connect a huge number of people emotionally and scientifically with the natural world,” Dhritiman said. “I realized [photography] can be a great tool to create awareness and consciousness — a great tool for conservation.”

We hope that this hardworking dad would finally get the attention he deserves. But for now, he is absolutely a great father we can all admire.

Source: The Dodo