Gori white crocodile at Bhitarkanika, Odisha lays eggs after 41 years

After 41 long years, India’s only captive white crocodile ‘Gori’ laid around 40-42 eggs in her pen at Dangamal in Bhitarkanika National Park, Kendrapada on Sunday.

Forest officials said though it is good news that Gori has laid eggs after almost four decades, it will be clear after two weeks if the eggs have embryo or not. A female crocodile can lay eggs till the age of 70, but some times they lay infertile eggs.

After her birth in 1975, the forest officials had kept the reptile in a small pond. She was shifted to a bigger pond last year. Having spurned male crocodiles thrice in the past, Gori laid eggs after mating with one last month. Gori is now guarding the eggs as the hatchlings will emerge from the eggs in August.

Gori is eight feet long and has whitish patches over its body. The rare reptile has been caged in a pen inside the Dangamal Crocodile Research Centre in Bhitarkanika National Park. Mating attempts were made at least five times in the past few years, but the reptile rejected the male partner each time.

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Notably, Gori was the mascot of Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi in 2010. The Odisha government had also chosen the animal as the mascot of National Youth Festival hosted in Bhubaneswar in 2010.