Gharial

February 2006.

Is it just me or does this look like a False Gharial?

It is a false gavial

Yes it is...this photo uploaded the title incorrectly somehow I did get the Malayan in front of Gharial. Tomistomas are no longer really known has False Gavial, but Malayan Gharial. Who would want to fund a project for a fake animal anyway?

certainly a Tomistoma

yep, Malayan Gharial. Body is broader and so is the snout, if is was an Indian one it would have a much longer snout and a protruding nose at the end.

But thanks for sharing such a rare and unique crocodilian.

It'll always be called a False Gharial to me - is this another Andean Bear/Painted Dog rebrand? I have little patience for this kind of thing!

The Tomistoma Task Force of the CSG agreed in using the common name "Sunda gharial", because most of Tomistomas range is located in Indonesia, not Malaysia.

There are so many animals that even in my lifetime have had a name change...Siberian tiger/Amur tiger, fairy penguin/little penguin, indian elephant/asian elephant and so on and so forth.

hmmm, renaming a species
it is understandable of the asian and indian elephant, but as now Indian elephant is a subspecies.

But in the case of siberian/amur. Should we rename a species if their range after intial naming is no longer in that particular area? E.g say if the Indoenesian Javan rhino subspecies becomes extinct before the Vietnamese javan rhino ( which is highly unlikely and I hope won't happen very soon) Will the species just be named the Vietnamese rhino?