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Most Modelled Suitable Mugger Crocodile Habitat Lies Outside Existing Protected Areas

Mugger crocodile in a river in India
Conservation · Habitat protection

A new conservation-planning study for the mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) suggests that much of the potentially suitable habitat for the species in southern India lies outside the existing protected-area network.

Researchers built a multiscale habitat model for the Cauvery River Basin and estimated 2,209.5 km² of potentially suitable habitat. Only 38.1% of that area overlapped with existing protected areas, leaving roughly 62% of the modelled suitable riverine landscape without formal protection.

Habitat drivers operated at different spatial scales

The strongest habitat relationships were not all operating at the same spatial scale. Most predictors were strongest at fine to moderate scales of 500–2,000 metres, while some topographic and hydrological variables were retained at a broader 8,000-metre scale. In biological terms, this means that habitat suitability depended both on conditions close to a river section and on the broader landscape context around it. Stable temperature, the distribution of wetlands, distance from roads and terrain wetness were among the key variables retained by the model. Overall, the results point towards areas with relatively low disturbance and well-distributed wetland habitat.

Priority habitat extended beyond protected areas

The researchers then combined the habitat model with a systematic conservation-planning analysis. This identified 990 km² of priority regions, including five particularly high-priority areas covering a combined 540 km² outside the current protected network.

The authors use the model to identify priority areas for surveys, habitat protection and river-basin conservation planning, including suitable areas outside the existing protected-area network.

Sources and image credit

  1. Gour, R., & Whitaker, N. (2026). Multiscale habitat modeling to improve spatial prioritization for mugger crocodile conservation in riverine landscapes. Ecological Applications, 36(3), e70222. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.70222Primary peer-reviewed study, first published 1 April 2026.

Image: Charles J. Sharp — mugger crocodile photographed in the Chambal River, India; representative image, not an animal from the Cauvery study. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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