Free from School

three months earlier my dad had written to Romulus Whitaker the legendary snakeman who now runs the Croc Bank asking whether I could spend some time there. There had been no r

hom we stayed in Jaipur) told my father that her sister lived at Mamallapuram and would help out. Phone calls back and for

ng in the wild. Although I was supposed to return home for Christmas I begged to be let off and was in the seventh heaven when my parents agreed. In

ted at Mamallapuram wh

uge place with a b

centre so that the crocs can sunbathe on the upper part of the slopes. Some of the huge crocodiles have individual pits but usually the speci

Madras Snake Park several years ago. There is, in fact, a big snake pit at the Croc Bank, in which various kinds of snakes are kept. Here, snake venom is extracted from the snakes by the I

its for various kinds of turtles an

searchers and guests (there were mainly foreigners at the time I was there) who come to stay at Croc Bank from time to time. The residential quarters ar

ted. The permanent staff which includes the Director, Deputy Directory and others

e good friends with ma

six foot tall Director

is wife, Zai Whitaker

, the Deputy Director

their son Tharak, Gerr

e and ma

signment i.e., treating a 2-foot long turtle with infected skin. I used to apply ointment to its feet and then p

ody if not more. From head to tail, he must have been about two and a half metres long. But he had been in captivity for so long that he was very friendly, though he had sharp claws and a spiny back and head. Somet

oon learned to be quick enough, and would get them before they could reach the water. Once they were cornered they would whip their tails about and inflate their necks, hissing dangerous

ts filled with water for the reptiles to swim in or to drink. Most of the crocodile pits were bare, but the monitor lizard pits were usually filled with trees which they could climb to th

less likely to bite in water). Then I would feel around till I got the tail, slowly lift it to the surface and grab the neck under the water. Their necks were so huge tha

ng. They fell on the ground but suffered no damage and just continued running around. I recall the day Gerry challenged Nikhil "the bodybuilder" to pull a monitor lizard that

exercise was usually done with a male worker first chasing the crocs into the water. Then the remaining 3 to 4 women would help with brooms, baskets and spades. Occasionally, we would have a crocodile wanting us to get out of his pit instead. No matter how hard you hit him on his nose

perations involved in shifting crocodiles from one loca

the Croc Bank from one pit to another as it had broken its upper ja

jump and sit on it. (That's the only way to prevent a croc from getting back into water!). With its mouth bound by rubber bands, the croc is then rolled onto a ladder, bound to

the last unfortunate or brave man, depending on how you look at it, makes

ammer?" Of course crocs only mate with others of their own species and there is no way a Gharial and mugger will get together

in India. He is about 16 feet and ranks may be, 3rd or 4th in the world in terms of his length. Therefore, after Part II of `

t he would come charging at us even if he was in the water. He seemed to give us more exercise than all of us put together gave him. Anyway, the Croc Bank, after ten years, f

ow to sex them). I began to feel inside the crocodile and felt a hemipenis! "It's a male," I shouted. "Can't be,

pion Sexer,"

kings are made on their scales. But workers can sometimes make mistakes while sexing small crocs. That's perhaps how the error occurred with the first bri

upposed females turned out to be males! By then, most of the crocs had run into the deepest part of the pond and we had hardly any crocs to choo

wire and, instead, the reverse started happening. The crocs from the land started coming into the water colliding with those being driven out by us. Thereafter there was general commotion in the water and all the crocs started thrashing about. One almost g

we don't know, because he just caught the hapless female croc between his huge jaws and thrashed her about. "Croc barbecue is delicious", said Tharak expecting the poor creature to perish any moment. Fortunately

he space of a medium size basket. Each egg was at least three times the size of a hen's egg and they usually numbered around 30 to 35. Every female-and each one o

he most, one or two survive out of the 30-35 eggs as many are lost to predators, etc., but here due to artificial incubation, special enclosures, etc., a large number tend to survive. Therefore the croc bank has stopped all br

After the ban, they went out of business and found it difficult to make a living because they did not own land and did not know how to cultivate fields or do any t

snake in it. Their crowbar had three uses, namely: (1) to shine light into the burrow; (2) to dig the hole and (3) to handle the snak

hin the bunds. After catching the rats, the Irulas would take away the rice which the rats had stowed away and coo

the four poisonous snakes of India (the "Big Four", i.e. Cobras, Common K

f water outside to prevent ants from entering the room. (You may not believe it but ants can reduce a snake to a skeleton.) Next, there was a little space outside the room and about 1 to 2 metres after, a smooth wall, about a metre high. I used to remove the snakes from their pots, put them to

e bitten just for the heck of it. I recall once when a ratsnake gave me a bite on the nose. I tried to prevent Rom seeing it but he found out soon enough by the blood on my shirt. A bite from

it turned round and bit me. That was quite bad! Imagine a sawing machine running

his pit vipers. The scar, still on my hand, reminds me also of the chequered keelback b

I was taking away as my gift and souvenir from Croc Bank bit me so bad

was too (some of the bites were quite painful), one good thing did come out of all those bites. I have no paranoid fear of such bites any longer. I am very careful when I han

rs, turtles, the works. It was always with great pleasure that I would search for information about something that I had learnt or seen that d

her times, I would watch a movie at Rom's. There was time for barbecues of field rats, froglegs, frankfurters, parrot fish, chicken

film the King Cobras at the Bank. I became one of the many hands-on they had for the job: I would assist in various ways like holding

to it since the beginning of my sabbatical. So now it stood nearly at shoulder length. He told me he had one and a half

en he announced that he had finished he produced a mirror and I looked into the face of an unrecognisable Rahul with a hairstyle of triangles sitting amidst shaved parts and a long strand of hair in the fro

had my hair shaved off completely. It was truly liberating. I took several pictures of myself at this tim

promised everyone that I'd be back soon. I carried a souvenir wit

athe. Suddenly I noticed that the turtle was out and was already making for the door of the bus. I quickly caught her and put her bac

Work

cod

hem and very little known about their nature. Many are considered dangerous. None are cons

of crocodiles and all

rocodiles are foun

which are fish-e

Mugge

lt-water

pto 25 feet. It is the only crocodile that can live in the sea for a long time. The Nile crocodile of Africa is

rds than to snakes or reptiles. Being cold blooded they control their body temperature by seeking shady, sunny

hem in swimming. They have a very low metabolic rate and thus need to hunt only every few days. They can decrease their metabolic rate and stay under water for a long time. Alligators have been known

by crocodile hatches, it is just about three quarters of a foot (25-30 cms) in length. In a few years it mat

Gharials take longer to mature; about 8-10 years for the female and 12 years for the male. In

s) and female (1.6 metres). Males of Gharials and Salties m

in between February an

een the last week of Ma

ri

each pair may blow bubbles, rub noses, raise their snout and periodically submerge and re-emerge. Different species show different courtship displays

ys and for Gharials and Salties, 40-65 days. The temperature at which eggs are incubated a

er on the nest to control the temperature. In mugger crocs, females are exclusively produced at constant temperature o

ather) digs open the nest. Then she cracks some of the eggs with her teeth to set free the young and carries the

s that would otherwise rot. They capture the diseased, wounded and weaker prey thus letting only the stronge

Many animals depend upon crocs for food for e.g. the sacred Ibis and monitor lizard will eat the eggs of the Ni