KARACHI: The Karachi zoo was hit by more bad news on Saturday morning when the staff found a large marsh crocodile lying dead in its enclosure, sources told Dawn. The zoo is now left with 11 crocodiles.

Last month, a Bengal tiger died after remaining ill for four months. No diagnosis could be made and the zoo administration described the disease as ‘unknown’.

Assistant director of zoo Dr Aamir Ismail confirmed the crocodile’s death and said that the male reptile was too old and died of natural causes.

“It was more than 50 years old and had passed its average lifespan, which is between 20 and 40 years. It wasn’t ill at all and we just found it dead in the morning,” he said, adding that all crocodiles at the zoo were local species.

Also read: Young Bengal tiger dies at Karachi zoo

However, he couldn’t tell the exact length of the dead crocodile. “No measurements were taken as there is no such practice at the zoo for dead animals,” he said.

Replying to a question, he said no tagging had ever been done at the zoo to identify reptiles or keep a record of their age, adding that animals were recognised from their size or marks, if they had any.

“We will keep its skin that could be later stuffed and placed in the museum for public display while bury its remains in the zoo,” he said.

The zoo authorities had earlier claimed that the Bengal tiger was 10 to 12 years old at the time of its death, though the big cat was only six years old, according to its export permit documents.

Also see: KMC looks for more animals despite poor record

The marsh crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) also called the Indian, Indus, Persian crocodile or simple mugger is a protected species under the Sindh wildlife rules whereas the reptile is listed as vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s List of Threatened Species.

It’s the most common and widespread of the three crocodile species (the others being Gharial and the saltwater crocodile) found in South Asia.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2014