Wildlife Photographer of the Year: How

many crocodiles can you see?

By Jonathan AmosBBC Science Correspondent
• 1 September 2020
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• Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Image copyrightDHRITIMAN MUKHERJEE/WPY/NHMImage captionA father's pride: Hatchlings cling

to a male gharial's back in India's National Chambal Sanctuary
How many crocodiles can you count in this
picture? One hundred, maybe?

You're forgiven for doing a double-take because

you don't immediately register that this male
gharial croc's back is entirely covered by its
young.
The image was captured by expert
photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee. His shot,
snapped in India's National Chambal Sanctuary,
is highly commended in this year's Wildlife
Photographer of the Year (WPY) competition.
 Every one of these youngsters needs to survive
into adulthood and to breed.
The freshwater gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is
critically endangered. Where once it could
have numbered more than 20,000 animals
across South Asia, the species is now down to
perhaps less than 1,000 mature individuals - and
three-quarters of these are concentrated in the
Uttar Pradesh sanctuary.
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"This male had mated with seven or eight

females, and you can see that it was very much
involved," explained Dhritiman. "Normally the
gharial is quite a shy crocodile compared with
the saltwater and marsh crocs. But this one was
very protective and if I got too close, it would
charge me. It could be very aggressive," he told
BBC News.

The male gharial sports a fabulous bulge on the

end of its snout that is reminiscent of a round
earthenware pot, or "ghara" in the Hindi
language.
"It's a structure that enables vocal sounds to be
amplified," said Patrick Campbell, the senior
curator of reptiles at London's Natural History
Museum, which runs the prestigious WPY
competition.

"Other crocs carry their young about in their

mouths. Very carefully, of course! But for the
gharial, the unusual morphology of the snout
means this is not possible. So the young have to
cling to the head and back for that close
connection and protection."
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award
Image copyrightDHRITIMAN MUKHERJEEImage captionAnother view from the sequence of images
taken by Dhritiman Mukherjee

The gharial's decline is a familiar story of habitat

loss.

This has been driven principally by dams and

barrages that have disrupted river flows. Sand
extraction and boulder removal have restricted
nesting opportunities. And then there's the
perennial problem of animals getting caught up
in fishing gear.

"Rear and release" programmes appear to have

at least stopped this species going over the edge.
But a big effort is now needed if this
extraordinary animal is to have a long-term
future.

Dhritiman hopes he can help spur that

endeavour by linking the emotion displayed in
his images to the science that's required for
successful conservation.

Otherwise, the only place you'll be able to see the

gharial will be in museums - as the taxidermy
specimens, like those held by the NHM.
 Dhritiman's picture at the top of this page is
highly commended in the Behaviour: Amphibians
and Reptiles category of WPY.

Image copyrightPATRICK CAMPBELLImage captionThe NHM has a number of gharial specimens

brought into its collections during colonial times

The winners of the 2020 Wildlife Photographer

of the Year competition - its grand prizes and
category winners - will be announced on 13
October.

However, because of the global impact of Covid-

19, the awards ceremony will be held online.
This will be hosted by the well known TV
presenters Chris Packham with Megan
McCubbin.
The Natural History Museum's popular WPY
exhibition, showcasing the best images, is to go
ahead as normal from 16 October. Tickets are
on sale this week.

Twenty-twenty is year 56 for WPY. The

competition was initiated by BBC Wildlife
Magazine, then called Animals, in 1965. It is now
wholly organised by the NHM.
Image copyrightALESSANDRA MENICONZI/WPY/NHM
Also highly commended (Behaviour: Birds) this
year is this picture of yellow-billed choughs
battling the winds high up on the Alpstein Massif
in the Swiss Alps. The perfectly framed
silhouettes of the birds were captured by
Alessandra Meniconzi. Anyone who has been
skiing in the Alps will probably have seen these
animals because they will often scavenge
discarded human food around holiday resorts.
Alessandra said their shrieking was "so loud and
insistent in the dramatic landscape, it was like
being in a thriller movie".
Image copyrightJAIME CULEBRAS/WPY/NHM
If you can dare to look... this rather gruesome
picture is of a large wandering spider making a
meal out of an egg from a giant glass frog. The
image was taken by Spanish photographer Jaime
Culebras in a stream in Manduriacu Reserve in
northwestern Ecuador. To consume the egg, the
spider injects digestive juices and then sucks
back the liquefied products. This female spider,
which has a leg span of 8cm, spent more than an
hour in front of Jamie's camera lens devouring
the frog's eggs. This particular picture was highly
commended in the Behaviour:
Invertebrates category.
Jonathan.Amos-
INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on
Twitter: @BBCAmos