page_title: Bhitarkanika National Park
section_title: Fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Bhitarkanika National Park / Wildlife / Fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Spotted deers at Bhitarkanika National Park
context_page_description: Bhitarkanika National Park is a 145 km² large national park in northeast Kendrapara district in Odisha in eastern India. It was designated on 16 September 1998 and obtained the status of a Ramsar site on 19 August 2002. The area is also been designated as second Ramsar site of the State after the Chilika Lake. It is surrounded by Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, which spread over 672 km².
  Gahirmatha Beach and Marine Sanctuary are to the east, separating swamp region and mangroves from the Bay of Bengal.
  The national park and wildlife sanctuary is inundated by the rivers Brahmani, Baitarani, Dhamra, Pathsala. It hosts many mangrove species, and is the second largest mangrove ecosystem in India.
  The national park is home to Saltwater crocodile, Indian python, king cobra, black ibis, darters and many other species of flora and fauna.
context_section_description: The park is home to the saltwater crocodile, Indian python, black ibis, wild boar, rhesus monkey, chital, darter, cobra, monitor lizard. Olive ridley turtles nest on Gahirmatha and other nearby beaches. Bhitarkanika has one of the largest populations of endangered saltwater crocodile in India and is globally unique in that, 10% of the adults exceed 6 m length.
  Nearly 1671 saltwater crocodiles inhabit the rivers and creeks.
  Around 3,000 saltwater crocodiles were born during 2014 annual breeding and nesting season.
  In 2006, Guinness World Records accepted claims of a 7.1 m (23 ft 4 in), 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) male saltwater crocodile living within Bhitarkanika National Park. Due to the difficulty of trapping and measuring a large living crocodile, the accuracy of these dimensions is yet to be verified. These observations and estimations have been made by park officials over the course of ten years, from 2006 to 2016, however, regardless of the skill of the observers it cannot be compared to a verified tape measurement, especially considering the uncertainty inherent in visual size estimation in the wild. According to the park report in 2006, there were 203 adults, of which 16 measured over 4.9 m (16 ft 1 in); 5 of these 5.5 to 6.1 m (18 ft 1 in to 20 ft 0 in), and 3 over 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in), as well as the preserved skeleton of a 6.0 m (19 ft 8 in) specimen which died one year earlier. A significant figure, since individuals over 5 m (16 ft 5 in) are considered rare, making the Bhitarkanika Park a suitable habitat for large individuals. The most recently published official park report shows an increase of adult crocodiles to 308 individuals, as well as a steady increase over the years. In future, if conservation efforts pay off, these large individuals could be more common.
  As per the 2014 survey of mammals, first of its kind to be undertaken in the forest and wetland sites of the park; 1,872 spotted deers, 1,213 numbers of wild boars have made the forest areas their home. The census breakup of other mammals is monkeys - 1,522, jackals - 305, common langur - 39, otter - 38, sambar deer - 17, jungle cat - 11, fox - 10, Mongoose - 7, wolf- 7, fishing cats - 3, hyena - 12, according to the survey data.
  Avifauna includes 320 species including eight kingfisher species. Birds such as Asian open bill, cormorants, darters, black ibis, egrets, are frequently seen in the park. Every year close to 120,000 winter visitors from abroad for wintering and 80,000 resident birds from different parts of India arrive for nesting during the monsoon season.
caption: Spotted deer at Bhitarkanika National Park
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 80D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Photo Professional", "Image DateTime": "2017:01:27 13:28:56", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "254", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "7304", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "350", "Thumbnail YResolution": "350", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7416", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10395", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "640", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "640", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:01:27 13:28:56", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:01:27 13:28:56", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "9", "EXIF ApertureValue": "45/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-2/3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "600", "EXIF SubSecTime": "14", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "14", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "14", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5243", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3336", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "5243", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "3336", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7148", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "028021009234", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[150, 600, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000000"}