Kukrail Reserve Forest (), an

urban forest Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...

created in 1950s as a plantation forest, is located about 9 km northwest from

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

city centre in the

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

state of India. It has a

captive breeding Captive breeding, also known as captive propagation, is the process of keeping plants or animals in controlled environments, such as wildlife reserves, zoos, Botanical garden, botanic gardens, and other Conservation biology, conservation facilitie ...

and conservation center for the freshwater

gharial The gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family (biology), family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males ...

s (gavialis gangeticus), one of the 3 native species of crocodiles in India.The Kukrail river flows through it. Baby Gharial

It is one of such 3 crocodile-breeding centers in India. Kukrail crocodile centre and the

Madras Crocodile Bank Trust The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology (MCBT) is a reptile zoo and herpetology research station, located south of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The centre is both a registered trust and a recognized zoo under the ...

(breeds all 3 native crocodile species of India - freshwater muggers, freshwater

s and

salt-water crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

s) are rated as top two most success crocodile breeding centres by

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

, the third being the Crocodile Breeding Centre at Kurukshetra (breeds only freshwater muggers).

Background

Etymology

It is named after the place where it was planted in Lucknow, i.e. Kukrail Pul.

History

Forest was planted in 1950 and gharial breeding program commenced in 1978.

Kurail urban plantation forest

Location

Kukrail Reserve Forest is located in Indranagar, adjacent to Mayur Residency Extension, on picnic spot road. The forest was planted in 1950s over 5000 acres to serve as city's green lungs. Forests department has several nurseries - herbal nursery, medicinal nursery and sapling nursery - spread across the forest, which are connected by the nature trails and sell plants at low price. Sapling from the nurseries here are sent across the state for the afforestation. It is a popular picnic spot.

Flora

Forest has

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

peltophorum ''Peltophorum'' is a genus of 5–15 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. The genus is native to certain tropical regions across the world, including northern South America, central and southern Africa, ...

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

, prosopis juliflora,

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

, holoptelea integrifolia ,Dates ,Ficus infectoria ,peepal ,neem and numerous other plant species.

Fauna

The forest has over 200 species residents local and migrants birds. March to April spring season is best for bird watching.

Conservation

Gharial conservation

Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Centre, breeds endangered gharial which is one of 3 native crocodile species of India, all 3 of which are endangered, other 2 being mugger and salt water crocodile which are not breed here. By 1975, only 300 gharials were remaining in Uttar Pradesh. Consequently, Uttar Pradesh Forest Department collected gharial eggs from the river banks, incubated, and released adult gharials in to various rivers. Kukrali captive-breeding programme for

is one of the two such most successful wildlife conservation programmes in the country, other being

. Kurail Gharial breeding center project was established in 1978 by the Uttar Pradesh forest department in collaboration with Ministry of Environment and Forests of India, after a 1975 study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (UNO) estimated that there were only 300 crocodile left in the open rivers of Uttar Pradesh.

Gharial breeding

Center has been 4 resident females and two resident male gharials for captive breeding, till 2016 total of 5410 gharial juveniles have been released into various rivers including 254 into Ganges river. Apart from breeding crocodiles in the park, crocodile eggs are also collected from the banks of

Ramganga Ramganga is a tributary of the river Ganges, originating in Uttarakhand state, India. Ramganga West Ramganga West River originates from Dudhatoli or Doodhatoli ranges Course The Ramganga River originates in the southern slopes of Dudhato ...

, Suheli, Girwa and Chambal rivers. The female crocodile lays eggs in April by digging holes on the river banks. The young crocodiles hatch in a period of 60 to 80 days. When young crocodiles come out of these eggs after artificial hatching at the center, they are fed and looked after till they become capable of defending themselves against other predators. The young crocodiles are then released into the waters of Chambal, Sharda, Ghaghra, Girwa, Ramganga and

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

rivers. This programme has contributed to the improvement in the gharial's status not only in Uttar Pradesh but also in the neighbouring states of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

as well as has provided gharials to zoos and nature parks in Odisha, Kanpur, Delhi, West Bengal, Chennai, Bhutan, Tokyo, New York, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Gharial research

For the scientific study, at the time of release into the wild the juveniles are tagged with color coded tags and unique identification numbers which can be later seen with the help of binacular. Some gharials were released with high frequency (VHF) radio tags into the Ghaghra river for better tracking for the scientific study. Centre also uses '' biologging'' to research the underwater behaviour of free ranging gharials in which a light weight camera if tied to the head of gharial at the time of release which detaches from the gharial after 4 hours, it collects diving depths, swimming speeds and frequency of movements, etc. Detached cameras are collected for the research.

Mugger rehabilitation

Mugger (crocodylus palustris) rescued from the surrounding area are kept here to provide veterinary care until they are healed enough to be released back in the rivers.Conserving gharial centre at Kukrail
The Better India, 3 Jul 2016.

Turtle conservation

Softshell turtle Trionychidae is a family of turtles, commonly known as softshell turtles or simply softshells. The family was described by Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. Softshells include some of the world's largest freshwater turtles, though many can adapt to li ...

conservation, in collaboration with Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), was established as part of the Ganga Action Plan which conducts scientific research and develops broad based inclusive colonies of all endangered turtles.

References

External links

Conservation Status of the Gharial in UPNews: Ghariyals to enter Ganga after 17 yearsCrocodile Dundee of KukrailNow, religion comes to rescue ghariyalsFighting to save the gharials
Kukrail centre gets over 100 ghariyal hatchlings {{Asia topic, List of zoos in, title=Lists of zoos in Asia Animal breeding organisations in India Crocodilians of Asia Reserved forests of India Parks in India Tourist attractions in Lucknow district 1978 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Protected areas established in 1978