UPSC Prelims 2017 · Question 17 of 99

UPSC Prelims 2017 question on Gharial Habitat Chambal

If you want to see gharials in their natural habitat, which one of the following is the best place to visit?

  1. Bhitarkanika Mangroves
  2. Chambal River
  3. Pulicat Lake
  4. Deepor Beel
Show answer

Answer: B. Chambal River

Verdict

The answer is the Chambal River. The National Chambal Sanctuary is the best place to see gharials in the wild.

Analysis

The National Chambal Sanctuary is a tri state protected area in northern India created for the critically endangered gharial, and it also shelters the red crowned roof turtle and the Ganges river dolphin. The gharial is a freshwater, fish eating crocodilian that needs clean, fast flowing rivers with deep pools and sandbanks for basking and nesting. Bhitarkanika is a brackish mangrove system famous for the saltwater crocodile, Pulicat is a coastal brackish lagoon, and Deepor Beel is a freshwater wetland of Assam better known for birds.

Source

NCERT, Contemporary India II, chapter on forest and wildlife resources, with press reporting.

How to crack it

Match the animal to the water type before considering any site. The gharial is strictly a river species and cannot live in brackish or standing water, which removes the mangrove and lagoon options at once and leaves only a river. Habitat matching is the most reliable technique in Indian species questions, and it also explains why the saltwater crocodile and the gharial never share a site.

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