If you want to see gharials in their natural habitat, which one of the following is the best place to visit?

Answer: (b) Chambal River

The National Chambal Sanctuary (MP–Rajasthan–UP) holds most of the world’s wild gharials.

The idea

India has three crocodilians and each has its own water. The gharial eats fish and needs clean, deep, flowing rivers with sandbanks. The mugger lives in still fresh water: lakes, tanks, slow rivers. The saltwater crocodile lives in estuaries and mangroves.

Gharial → river → Chambal → Mugger → lakes and marshes → across India → Saltwater crocodile → mangrove creeks → Bhitarkanika, Sundarbans, Andamans

Why the others are wrong

(a) Bhitarkanika is famous for saltwater crocodiles.

(c) Pulicat is a brackish lagoon known for flamingos.

(d) Deepor Beel is a wetland near Guwahati.

The trap

Bhitarkanika is the famous crocodile site — but for saltwater crocodiles.

Also know

The gharial is Critically Endangered; the male has a pot-like knob (ghara) on its long, thin snout. The Chambal survived as a clean river because its ravines kept industry and cities away. The National Chambal Sanctuary runs through Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and also shelters the Gangetic dolphin and the Indian skimmer. Sand mining and dams are the main threats.