Think Like a Gharial

Question 1 · multiple choice

Where would the tracks of a wild Gharial most reasonably be found?

eucalypt woodland and forest in eastern Australia large lakes, deltas, lagoons, and sheltered coasts warm coastal seas, seamounts, and deep offshore water deep flowing rivers with sandbanks

Question 2 · multiple choice

Which feeding clue would most strongly suggest that a Gharial had visited?

mostly fish captured sideways in narrow jaws grasses, bark, leaves, fruit, and roots fish, crayfish, frogs, and other aquatic animals lichens, grasses, sedges, leaves, and fungi

Question 3 · multiple choice

If people want to avoid disturbing a Gharial, which activity pattern should they understand?

feeds in cooler hours and rests near or in water during heat basks by day and hunts in water active by day mostly active at night

Question 4 · multiple choice

[Image needed: a clear, unlabeled side-view photograph of a Gharial moving naturally in its wild habitat, with its whole body visible and no captions.] How does a Gharial normally move when feeding or travelling?

walks on land and swims with partly webbed feet flies between feeding areas and hangs acrobatically while building swims with a powerful tail but moves awkwardly on land climbs and leaps among leaves over water

Question 5 · multiple choice

Which explanation correctly links a Gharial's body design to what it does?

nostril structures manage airflow while a third eyelid protects the eye chromatophores, reflective cells, and skin muscles create rapid patterns and texture tails interfere with bat echolocation and can draw attacks away from the body a long slim snout reduces water resistance during rapid fish strikes

Question 6 · multiple choice

Which observation would fit a Gharial raising or producing young?

females bury eggs on sandbanks and guard hatchlings near the river adults build a foam nest where eggs and young receive protection eggs overwinter inside a foamy protective case called an ootheca usually one young is born and sheltered inside a burrow

Question 7 · multiple choice

A camera records several Gharials. Which group behaviour would be believable?

mostly solitary, though food-rich places can attract many individuals adults may gather at good basking and nesting sites mostly solitary, communicating through scent, marks, and calls forms loose groups and may mix with grazing mammals

Question 8 · multiple choice

How does a Gharial contribute to the wider community of living things?

opens paths, digs water holes, and spreads many plant seeds links aquatic food webs and signals healthy connected waterways regulates river fish communities without usually hunting large land mammals moves nutrients and shapes tundra vegetation through grazing

Question 9 · multiple choice

Which defence description belongs in a safety guide about a Gharial?

climbs higher, grips bark, and uses claws when threatened uses size, bill jabs, and group vigilance uses schooling, speed, and sensory awareness retreats to deep water and uses teeth and tail if trapped

Question 10 · true false

True or False: A gharial can survive in seawater because specialised tongue glands remove extra salt.

True False