Reptiles
Mugger Crocodile
Crocodylus palustris · also called marsh crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile
In much of India and Sri Lanka the crocodile you are most likely to meet is the mugger — a broad-headed, marsh-loving predator that lives in irrigation reservoirs, temple tanks, and village ponds, often within sight of people going about their day. Fifty years ago it had been hunted almost to nothing. Today it is the subcontinent’s most numerous crocodilian.
Overview
Crocodylus palustris is a medium-sized crocodile, with males commonly 3 to 4 metres and females smaller. Among true crocodiles it has the broadest, most alligator-like snout, suited to a mixed diet of fish, turtles, snakes, birds, and mammals up to deer size. Its name comes from magar, the Hindi word for crocodile — unrelated to the English word for a street robber.
A crocodile that digs
The mugger is unusual among crocodilians for routinely excavating burrows — tunnels several metres into a bank — where it shelters from the hottest and coldest weather. It has also been photographed apparently using tools, balancing sticks on its snout during the season when herons and egrets are gathering nest material, luring the birds within striking range.
Living with people
Across South Asia, muggers occupy man-made water bodies — reservoirs, canals, and sacred tanks — and at many sites share the water with people daily. Conflict occurs, and places like the Vishwamitri River in Vadodara and parts of Sri Lanka are known hotspots, but most encounters pass without incident.
Status
The mugger is listed as Vulnerable, with perhaps 5,700 to 8,700 mature individuals, mostly in India. It was hunted heavily for its skin until the 1960s, then rebuilt in India through legal protection and a large captive-rearing and release programme centred on the Madras Crocodile Bank. It remains scarce or nearly gone at the edges of its range in Iran, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Mugger Crocodile: common questions
How big does a mugger crocodile get?
Muggers are medium-sized crocodiles. Adult males commonly reach 3 to 3.5 metres and large individuals approach or slightly exceed 4 metres, with a few historical records near 5 metres. Females are smaller, usually around 2 to 2.5 metres. That makes the mugger considerably smaller than the saltwater crocodile, which shares part of its range and can pass 6 metres, but still large enough to take deer, livestock, and, rarely, people. The broad heavy snout and thick bony plates on the neck and back give big muggers a bulky, armoured appearance.
Why is it called a mugger?
The name comes from magar, a word for crocodile in Hindi, Urdu, and related languages, itself derived from Sanskrit makara, a water creature of Hindu mythology. British writers in India adopted mugger as the common name for Crocodylus palustris in the nineteenth century. The English word mugger meaning a person who robs someone in the street comes from a completely different root, the verb to mug, and the resemblance between the two words is coincidence, though it has helped fix the crocodile's name in popular memory.
Is the mugger crocodile dangerous to people?
It can be, though far less so than the saltwater or Nile crocodile. Muggers live in close contact with people across South Asia, in reservoirs, rivers, and tanks where villagers bathe, wash clothes, fish, and collect water, and attacks do happen, some fatal, particularly from large animals and during the breeding season. The Vishwamitri River in the Indian city of Vadodara and parts of Sri Lanka are known conflict hotspots. Most muggers, however, are wary of humans and retreat, and long coexistence at many sites passes with little incident.
How did the mugger crocodile recover in India?
By the 1960s hide hunting and habitat loss had cut the Indian mugger population to small scattered groups. India banned crocodile hunting, listed the species for protection, and in the mid-1970s launched a government crocodile conservation project with United Nations support. This established breeding centres that collected wild eggs, raised the young in safety past the vulnerable stage, and released thousands back into protected reservoirs and sanctuaries. The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, founded in 1976, played a central role. The mugger is now the most widespread and numerous crocodilian in India, although suitable protected habitat, not animals, is now the limiting factor.