Forest personnel recently spotted five nests of estuarine crocodiles within the Kanika Forest Range. The nests were spotted at Ganjeikhia, near Bani Bhawan, near Bhitarkanika Tower and near Kunjabana, informed Kanika Forest Range Ranger Akhaya Kumar Nayak.
The female crocodiles lay eggs inside the mangrove forest near the water bodies of the park areas and guard the eggs till the emergence of the hatchlings from the eggs. During the nesting season, the crocodile lay eggs by creating mount-like structure of nest with mangrove leaves. The hatchlings emerge from the nest after a gap of about 60 to 70 days. As the female crocodiles habitating at Bhitarkanika National Park grow upto 14 feet, they give nearly 45 to 60 eggs. If their length is more than 14 feet, then lay more numbers of eggs. Out of the laid eggs, 10 per cent of the laid eggs are generally destroyed by predators whereas fifty percentage of the laid eggs are infertility eggs as a result 20-30 hatchling emerge from per nests, informed official sources.