The Ganga Aqualife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (GARRC) at Narora, Bulandshahar District, Uttar Pradesh, India
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HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSREPTILES • VOL &15, AMPHIBIANS NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 27(3):546–550189 • DEC 2020 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY CONSERVATIONTABLE OF CONTENTS IN ACTION FEATURE ARTICLES . Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: OnThe the Road to Understanding Ganga the Ecology and Aqualife Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Rescue Serpent ...................... Joshua and M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: RehabilitationA Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................ Centre, Narora,Robert W.India: Henderson 198 RESEARCH ARTICLES A Chelonian. The Texas Horned Lizard in Central andField Western Texas ....................... Station Emily Henry, Jason Brewer,on Krista the Mougey, and GangesGad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida .............................................Akshay Bajaj,Brian Animesh J. Camposano, Talukdar, Kenneth L. Krysko,Parag Kevin Nigam, M. Enge, and Ellen Syed M. Donlan, Ainul and Hussain Michael Granatosky 212 CONSERVATIONWildlife Institute ALERT of India, Dehradun-248001, Uttarakhand, India ([email protected]) . World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 . More Than Mammals ...............................................................................................................................Photographs by the WII-NMCG Component IV Team. ....................................... 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 he Ganga,HUSBANDRY one of Asia’s seven greatest rivers (Sinha turtles. Anthropogenic activities, such as the extraction of T2015) and the. Captivemost Care sacred of the Centralriver Nettedin India, Dragon springs ....................................................................................................... from natural resources and pollution, Shannon Plummer pose 226serious threats to the the Himalayas in Uttarakhand and flows more than 2,000 biodiversity and the viability of the Ganga (Sinha 2015). km through UttarPROFILE Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand to Ganga To conserve the Ganga and its fauna, the science-based . Sagar in West Bengal.Kraig Adler: The A Lifetimeriver’s Promoting aquatic Herpetology ecosystems ................................................................................................ are Biodiversity Conservation Michael and L. Ganga Treglia 234 Rejuvenation Project inhabited by someCOMMENTARY critically endangered species, such as the was initiated by the Ministry of Jal Shakti (Government Ganges River Dolphin. The Turtles (Platanista Have Been Watching gangetica Me ........................................................................................................................), the Eurasian of India) in association with Eric the Gangloff Wildlife 238 Institute of India Otter (Lutra lutraBOOK), Gharial REVIEW (Gavialis gangeticus), Mugger (WII), Dehradun (Ministry of Environment and Forest). Part Crocodile (Crocodylus. Threatened palustris Amphibians), and of a the number World edited of by species S.N. Stuart, of M. Hoffmann,of the mandate J.S. Chanson, of N.A. this Cox, project is the rescue and rehabilitation R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young .............................................................................................................. Robert Powell 243 CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245 NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248 EDITORIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 251 FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252 Front Cover. Shannon Plummer. Back Cover. Michael Kern Totat et velleseque audant mo Totat et velleseque audant mo estibus inveliquo velique rerchil estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum fugiatis maionsequat eumque fugiatis maionsequat eumque moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as accullabo. Fig. 1. Signboard outside the Ganga Aqualife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (GARRC) at Narora, Bulandshahar District, Uttar Pradesh, India. Inset: Map of India showing the location of the GARRC. Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a 546 Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. BAJAJ ET AL. REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(3):546–550 • DEC 2020 of the river’s turtles, which face threats that include entangle- The enclosures at GARRC currently house a total of ment in nets, exploitation for meat or the international trade 20 turtles of six species: eight Three-striped Roof Turtles in live animals (Choudhury and Bhupathy 1993), and confis- (Batagur dhongoka), seven Spotted Pond Turtles (Geoclemys cation by various government officials throughout the Ganges hamiltonii), two Indian Flap-shelled Turtles (Lissemys punc- system. To address that mandate, the Ganga Aqualife Rescue tata), one Indian Roofed Turtle (Pangshura tecta), one Brown and Rehabilitation Center (GARRC) was established at Roofed Turtle (Pangshura smithii), and one Crowned River Narora, Bulandshahar District, Uttar Pradesh (28.203039°N, Turtle (Hardella thurjii). 78.380551°E), where the WII could make use of an existing The facility follows a management protocol that addresses turtle head-starting and rearing facility. hygiene, feeding, sanitation, and environmental enrichment. The GARRC (Fig. 1) is on the campus of the Narora Hygienic procedure and sanitation protects reptiles from Atomic Power Station Township on the banks of the middle infectious diseases and zoonoses (Donoley et al. 2018). Entry portion of the Ganga (Hussain and Badola 2017), where the into enclosures is restricted, and anyone who enters must pass stretch from Brijghat to Narora has been declared a Ramsar through a disinfectant footbath of dilute potassium perman- site (Murthy et al. 2013). The facility has two enclosures. ganate at the entrance to inactivate bacteria, viruses, and pro- Enclosure 1 (Fig. 2A), which has been partitioned with wire tozoans (EPA 1999). Protective gear is worn for all animal mesh into four sections to allow four different species to co- handling and food preparation. Since water can easily become exist safely, has a central island of sand for basking. Enclosure contaminated by dissolved pollutants, nitrogenous waste, or 2, which is not partitioned, is comparatively small but has a leftover food, the water must be cleaned and kept free from pool surrounded by sand for basking. pathogens and algal growth (Donoley et al. 2017). Aquatic Fig. 2. Enclosure 1 (A) at the GARRC has been partitioned into four sections to allow four different species to co-exist safely; the filtration unit (B), and a pool undergoing a complete water change (C). Fig. 3. Species-specific fresh food for turtles at the GARRC includes mixed vegetables (A), fishes of various sizes (B), shrimp (C), and chicken intestines (D). 547 BAJAJ ET AL. REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(3):546–550 • DEC 2020 macrophytes are used to filter the water along with a clean- ing and water flow system that uses a three-chambered unit containing layers of coarse sand, fine sand, and charcoal (Fig. 2B). The latter is powered by an electric pump that performs systemic filtration and aeration and recycles water on a daily basis. This not only saves water but also removes dissolved pollutants, odor, and color through oxidation (Siabi 2008) before the water is reused. Enclosures are cleaned daily and leftover food is collected, 30% of water is changed every third day, and pools (including walls) are completely cleaned and water changed twice a month (Fig. 2C). Fig. 4. Enclosures are covered with transparent plastic sheets during the Turtles at the facility are provided with species-specific winter months. food for animals that are herbivorous, carnivorous, or omniv- Fig. 5. Hydrophytes provide refuges for aquatic turtles (A), Spotted Pond Turtles (Geoclemys hamiltonii) basking on a log positioned for that purpose (B), and an artificial terrestrial refuge (C). Fig. 6. Staff of the GARRC conduct rescue operations for multiple species, here an Indian Flap-shelled Turtle (Lissemys punctata). 548 BAJAJ ET AL. REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 27(3):546–550 • DEC 2020 orous (Fig. 3); the diversity offered is designed to reflect and thermoregulate as needed (Talukdar et al 2019). Ganges food available in nature. As appropriate, turtles