On Oct. 17, a mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), also zoologically known as a marsh crocodile, was recovered from the Bhubaneswar River in Bangladesh’s south-central Faridpur district, creating much excitement among local people, as the reptile species had not been seen in the locality in the last 70 years. Seeing a crocodile floating in the river, locals informed the local forest office of the matter, and forest officials rushed to the spot. After a three-day hectic dive, the Bangladesh Forest Department, with support from fishers, recovered the male mugger from the river. Three days after this crocodile recovery in Faridpur, on Oct. 21, locals caught an 80-kilogram (175-pound) female mugger from a wetland in Sujanagar upazila in Pabna district, about 130 kilimeters to the West of Dhaka. Finally, on Oct. 28, local people caught another adult female mugger from the Mygram beel (wetland) of Lohagara upazila in Narail district and handed it over to the forest department. All three muggers were later taken to the forest department’s Wildlife Recovery and Rehabilitation Centre in Khulna. According to the IUCN Bangladesh, the mugger crocodile was deemed to be regionally extinct in Bangladesh in 2000. However, the recent recovery of the three muggers in the country has sparked widespread speculation among wildlife lovers and experts as to whether the reptile species has returned to the wild in Bangladesh. One of the mugger crocodiles found in October. Image by Md. Mofizur Rahaman Chowdury. Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury, a isheries expert at the Bangladesh Forest Department who…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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