False Gharial
Tomistoma schlegelii
34.0088, -81.0731
Field Notes
Description:
"The false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), also known as the Malayan gharial, or false gavial is a freshwater crocodile of the Crocodylidae family with a very thin and elongated snout. The false gharial is listed as an endangered species by IUCN as the population is estimated at below 2,500 mature individuals. Until recently very little has been known about the diet or behavior of the false gharial within the wild, but thanks to some research on the part of biologists details are slowly being revealed. It has come to the attention of biologists that the false gharial's diet is much more varied than they had originally thought. Until now the false gharial was thought to have a diet similar to its relative the true gharial, i.e. only fish and very small vertebrates, but new evidence and occurrences have proven that the false gharial's broader snout has enabled larger individuals to prey on larger vertebrates including Proboscis monkeys, long-tailed macaques, deer and fruit bats.
At the end of 2008, a ±4 m female false gharial attacked and [consumed] a fisherman in central Kalimantan, whose remains were found in the gharial's stomach."
Notes:
Captive at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia.
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