A record of 3,700 baby estuarine crocodiles emerged from 122 nests to make their way to water bodies in and around the Bhitarkanika national park, marking the culmination of the annual breeding and nesting season of these reptiles.
Female crocodiles lay 50 to 60 eggs and the hatchlings usually emerge from the nests after 70 to 80 days of the incubation period. Around 50 per cent of hatchlings are born from each nest and one in 500 reaches adulthood as their mortality rate is very high. In the wild, babies are devoured by predating aquatic animals. The sex of a baby crocodile depends on the temperature of its egg in the first half of its nurture period.