False Gharial Chester Zoo 16 July 1979

Chester Zoo was successful in keeping the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) for many years. The area in which they were housed is now the tuatara exhibit.

Did they breed them?

No, no crocodilians have ever bred at Chester, although the Congo Dwarf Crocodiles laid eggs in the 1970s and the West African Dwarf Crocodiles in the 1990s.

better luck with the philippines then!

I hope so.

what happened to the false garhlas?

They were boiled to death after a thermostat failed in the middle of the night and the water became too hot. It was a terrible tragedy.

Wrong information. See later post

When did this awful thing happen, Rob? I have a photo from the 1980s, that I thought was a freshwater croc, but looking at this picture, I'm not sure now. It was in the enclosure that the radiated tortoises are in now, opposite the tuatara exhibit.

The winter (Jan perhaps) of 1980/81. Your picture sounds as if it is a Johnston's Freshwater Crocodile. The false gharials were where the tuataras are now.

The Philippine Croc female is eager to breed, the male less so, but the zoo don't want to breed crocs yet.

The False Gavials were removed from their enclosure early in 1981. They had grown too big for the pool and a larger pool was to be built. Owing to unexpectedly cold winter weather two specimens died of hypothermia. The survivor remained lethargic and died a few weeks later. It was a Green Tree Ptyhon which was burnt, not the gavials. Sorry for the mis-information posted earlier.