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Jaws! The Muggers of Goa
They are huge, they look deadly, and they have 66 dagger-like teeth – none of which are meant for human flesh. Contrary to what Hollywood tells you, crocodiles are not waiting to pounce on you; if you mind your own business, they will mind theirs. And in the Cumbarjua Canal near Panaji, Goa, they still roam the wild. Sanjay Choudhry explores the world of these fearsome-looking but gentle reptiles “Look hard on the banks now,” Harvey D’souza instructs as our boat eases into a narrow creek that intrudes into the thick mangrove jungle. My eyes scan every inch of the mud-flats on both sides, the natural silence broken by the whine of the outboard engine and the occasional flutter of wings as a bird takes off, disturbed by our presence in its kingdom. “Out there!” he exclaims, pointing to a clump of mangrove trees. I follow his gaze, and there it is – a full-grown crocodile sprawled on the mud bank, watching us quietly with a fixed, unblinking gaze. As I fumble for my camera, the croc, his bulky body moving with alarming speed, springs for the water. A splash, a swish of the tail, and the beast disappears under our boat, leaving behind tell-tale claw marks on the mud. As I squirm in my seat, with scenes from the movie ‘Lake Placid’ flashing in my mind, Harvey jokes, “You are lucky. The best crocodiles are usually spotted on the day people forget their camera!” On this sultry afternoon when the sun burns the skin, I am out to explore the Cumbarjua canal – the only place in Goa where crocodiles can be seen in the wild. With me are Harvey and his partner Neil Alvares, the most well-known crocodile hands in the state. Their outfit, Southern Birdwing, organizes croc-spotting boat tours for the visiting tourists and I, eager to explore crocodile country, clambered onto one such excursion. The canal is a 15-km-long stretch of water, just a 20 minute drive from Panaji, which links Zuari and Mandovi, Goa’s two biggest rivers. It is a vibrant mangrove habitat which serves as a spawning ground for fish, prawns and mollusks. This marine-life-rich ecosystem sustains a healthy population of birdlife and crocodiles. Some stray crocs are also found in other places in Goa such as Chorao, Thivim and Quepem. The crocodilians – alligators, crocodiles and gharials – are the direct descendants of the acrhosaurs, which until 65 million years ago ruled the reptile kingdom. They are today the largest and most intelligent reptiles – maybe this is the reason why they have managed to survive for so long while dinosaurs became extinct. An example of the adaptability of crocs is that those found in Goa – Crocodylus palustris – are fresh-water crocodiles (“freshies”) which have learnt to live in the canal’s saline water. This is rare and happens nowhere else in India. “The crocs are misunderstood creatures,” Neil says as he steers the boat out of the creek to rejoin the main stem of the canal. “Most people think that crocs are waiting to pounce on them and drag them underwater. This is not true. They are not man-eaters.” While the salt-water crocodiles (“salties”) do take livestock and occasionally even people, the freshies – called “muggers” in local parlance – are docile in comparison. “A mother guarding her nest can be dangerous, but otherwise these are very shy crocs. They won’t rush and attack you even if you go too close. They will simply jump into the water and move away.” In Cumbarjua, children swim with crocs in the water and farmers walk past the reptiles, unconcerned. “No case of a human killed by the Goan crocodiles has ever come to our notice,” Neil adds. Fresh-water crocodiles are mainly scavengers who also prey on sick fishes, birds, crabs, dogs and cats. The bigger ones may even prey on full-sized buffaloes or deer. They may even eat rocks as ballast to help them stay underwater for up to an hour at a stretch. But they do not eat much and get hungry only once every couple of weeks or so. “Crocs can survive for months without eating anything. The record is two years! They know how to conserve energy by lying still and keeping their metabolism low. They deposit body fat in their tail, which becomes the energy storehouse that they draw upon in lean periods. The lifespan of a croc is almost as long as that of humans – 60 to 80 years. The mating period is from November to February. “During courtship, they create quite a spectacle,” Harvey grins, “There is a lot of jaw-slapping and blowing of water bubbles. They make infra-sonic sounds which roil the water – it is frightening.” Crocs are a hole-nesting species, with the eggs laid in a pit away from the water’s edge and guarded by the mother croc. Out of the typical clutch of about 30 eggs, only two or three hatchlings usually survive, the others becoming a snack for predators such as mongoose, rats, ants, birds and even some humans who consider crocodile eggs a delicacy. A full grown adult can grow up to four meters in length. To communicate, they bark like a dog or let out a bellow. Skirting the traditional fishing net poles planted in the middle of the canal, we turn our boat into another creek where a crocodile is basking in the sun. He, along with Neil, rescued her from a small well where she had been cloistered for the last 15 years, and released her in the canal. The whole operation was filmed by the Discovery Channel and aired in a program called “The Great Croc Trail” hosted by croc-expert Jules Sylvester. Goa’s forest department calls on the duo for croc-rescue operations. These are becoming more and more frequent as people realize the importance of crocodiles in the ecosystem and think twice before harming them. The rescue efforts involve crocs that have ingested big fishing hooks and those which get trapped in fishing nets or stumble into human settlements. Others are rescued from illegal captivity. Over the past four years, Harvey and Neil have been involved in 34 croc rescues. Most of the rescued reptiles have joined the canal’s total croc population of about four dozen crocs. “This year, post-monsoon, we have already carried out six rescues,” says Neil who tags every croc they rescue for identification. “I could have sworn I noticed a grateful look in Roxanne’s eyes before she slithered into the water and disappeared.” “These crocs are very territorial and stick to the same creek or areas,” he continues, “We even have names for them. If someone tells us they saw a croc at a particular place, we can tell which one they are talking about.” On the opposite bank of the creek, I notice another huge croc basking in the sun with its jaws wide open. Looking through the binoculars, the back tongue appears encrusted with salt. “Crocs lack sweat glands,” Harvey explains, “By gaping like this, they keep themselves cool, much like panting dogs. Evaporation from the mouth can cool them off even when they lie in the sun for hours. The tongue has salt glands to excrete salt absorbed by the croc’s body.” As crocs are cold-blooded, they need to sunbathe often to keep themselves warm. “Looks at those jaws,” he tells me, “They can snap with enough pressure to crush a human skull. On the other hand, the muscles which open the jaws are very weak. If you hold a croc’s jaws together with a single hand, it will not be able to open its mouth.” I can clearly see the dagger-like teeth which are designed to grab and tear the prey. Almost all the 60 odd teeth of adult crocs stay outside the mouth when closed, which makes them look like they are smiling. “The tail of the croc is as much to be feared as its jaws. If you are not careful, you can get one hell of a whack and a fracture or two,” Harvey warns. Just then, the croc I have been observing hauls himself up on his feet and taking long steps disappears over the crest of the sand bank. “They can gallop – which is at the speed of a fast jog – they can crawl on their belly and they can also walk like what you just saw,” he adds, “The smaller the croc, the faster it is. Their hind legs are webbed, which they hold back while swimming.” The grayish-brown skin of the crocodiles ensures that they remain extremely well-camouflaged on the mud banks. Also, a lot of things look like crocodiles in the river – you never know which is which. “These are pretty tricky crocs – they hide when they see tourists! And even when they are lying right in front of you, either you see them or you don’t,” says Neil, recounting the story of a tourist who couldn’t see a croc when everybody else in the boat was pointing at it. “Well, do you see that log of wood lying under the tree?” He had asked her. She nodded. “Great!” he had told her, “That is the crocodile!” The tide movement in the canal is very strong and your best chance to see the crocs is during the low tide or just before the time when the high tide comes in. The crocs are lying in the open during these times. In the night though, it is quite easy to spot crocodiles because of “eyeshine” –the red reflector look of their eyes in torchlight. Imagine shining your torch in pitch dark in a patch of mangroves and finding the reddish eyes glowing back at you (and your boat springs a leak!). Crocodiles have been hunted worldwide for their skin – 20 million have been killed worldwide in the last 50 years alone. In India, they are classified along with tigers as “highly endangered.” But the major peril for them in Goa is their entanglement in fishing nets. “We find two-three crocs dead every year in Goa this way,” Harvey says, his voice tinged with sadness, “Some croc hunting may still linger here in the state, but it is paradoxically for their flesh, not their skin. Most of the croc leather items selling in Goa are fake, as the shopkeepers admit sheepishly when we go to investigate.” But happily, attitudes about crocs are changing with fishermen, who no longer regard them as competitors for fish. In the village of Durbhat Wadi on the canal, the crocs are even worshipped on the day of the new moon in January as the guardian spirit of the community. In a couple of hours, we manage to spot six crocs – not bad at all. As we turn our boat to make for home, Harvey looks back and takes a sweeping view of the canal: a fisherman catching crabs in a small boat; thick mangroves lining both banks; birds chirping in the trees; a kite floating high above. “This whole canal is crocodile territory,” he says, “They are one of the most amazing of the world’s creatures. I don’t think I will ever get tired of them.”
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