The Hindu Business Line : Up close & personal with mugger

A NARROW, tarred road winds along the Tadoba lake linking the forest hostel to the canteen. Swimming is strictly prohibited in the lake as it holds mugger or marsh crocodiles. We were told of muggers sunning on the lake edges and on an afternoon walking down the road to the canteen for lunch, one spotted a mugger. It was about two in the afternoon and one walked down the slope and stayed put at a distance of about 15 feet from the animal.

Geeta Mahadevan and Swarna Ramakrishnan from Chennai, who were with us in the Nature Camp, came over to the spot when the amphibian came off the waters and threatened to charge us. They clambered up the slope onto the road but as there was no real threat one continued to watch the animal. They left and one stood at the spot for about 15 minutes when Nishikant Kale and Kishor Rithe joined to have a good look at the Crocodylus palustris. Kishor warned me to maintain a safe distance while he got busy shooting a pair of common langurs.

It was around this time that Nishikant, with camera in hand, moved to about six feet of the mugger for a close- up shot. The animal stood up, tail moving up and down to charge at full pace with a loud roar and open mouth. One turned and ran up the slope to the road only to slip and fall while Nishikant followed shouting. One was not sure whether the mugger hissed or roared as we were running for life. Kishor, who was watching the scene, later said the mugger was just about two feet away from Nishikant and could have snapped at his legs but for it deciding to give up pursuit.

The mugger stayed put with its jaws wide open exposing its white insides. Sensing the end of the chase, Nishikant turned round to capture on film the mugger in a furious mood while this writer followed to have a glimpse of its gaping mouth. "Nishibau, you just escaped being dragged into the lake by the mugger. Today is your rebirth day," informed Kishor as the three of us waited for the next move of the mugger.

At least for about five minutes it stayed alert with its jaws wide open, before turning round to make it back to the lake. Later, at the canteen over lunch, our guide Sameer Majid Sheikh speculated that the mugger might have laid eggs near the lake's edge; or it could have been waiting to have a go at the langurs who came down for drinking water. Perhaps, the animal did not like our manners and the frightful charge was just a warning as it gave up on the chase.

In the Book of Indian Reptiles and Amphibians, J.C. Daniel, writes about the mugger: "Usually silent but hisses loudly when threatened, facing the enemy with snapping jaws and lashing tail. Adults occasionally roar, a call said to resemble the bellow of cattle. The call is often repeated twice or thrice in quick succession".

Another incident, which Pratap Thakre thought rather unusual, was the wallowing of sambar in mud during the long, hot afternoons at Tadoba. Overlooking the Panchadhara waterhole (with a thin line of water flowing into it) is a machan and for two afternoons Nishikant, Pratap and myself stayed up to watch birds such as the crested serpent eagle, racquet-tailed drongo, night jar (which voices its presence even in the noon at Tadoba) and other birds.

On the first afternoon, Pratap Thakre directed our sights to four sambars making their way cautiously through the teak and bamboo forests. They did not move single file; after every step they looked up with ears raised to catch any movement; at least one of them pawed the ground before moving ahead. We watched in quiet through our binoculars as one by one they took a few sips in the stream and moved in. One of them squatted in the stream with its bottom submerged in the water; it sat for some time before standing up, with its bottom muddy, to walk away into the forests.

The scene was repeated the second day with the number of sambars going up to eight.

Incidentally, S.H. Prater, in The Book of Indian Animals writes: "Forested hill-sides, preferably near cultivation, are the favourite haunt of the sambar. Their food consists of grass, leaves, and various kinds of wild fruit. They feed mainly at night and retire into heavy cover at daybreak and do not usually come out till dusk". With the Tadoba reserve offering protection, are the sambars changing habits?

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