The future of gharials and kin

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The future of gharials and kin
Topic Started: Jun 4 2009, 01:39 AM (618 Views)
JohnFaa	Jun 4 2009, 01:39 AM Post #1
Adveho in mihi Lucifer Posts: 7,699 Group: Members Member #5 Joined: May 31, 2008 Gender: Male Nationality: Portugayse Favorite Quote: Blame is the playing of children and is given to many like a gift that cannot be returned. Acceptance is the tool of the mature that is rarely loaned out.	Nowdays there are three species of long, slender snouted crocodilians that live in the water: the gharial, the false-gharial and the slender snouted crocodile (the later isn't related to the gharial species, but it is rather a crocodile that might be related to dwarf crocodiles and not "true" crocodiles as once thought). The first two reptiles are very endangered, while the later is declining. I think that the slender snouted crocodile will survive, but I don't know about the two gharial species. Whereas either survive or not, there is the chance of new marine crocodilians evolve; gharials as a whole seem to have been a mostly marine clade of reptiles, and the two modern species are simply freshwater survivers, and indeed appearently there was a surviving marine gharial in the Solomon islands that became extinct when people arrived there a few thousand years ago.



JohnFaa	Jun 4 2009, 05:36 PM Post #2
Adveho in mihi Lucifer Posts: 7,699 Group: Members Member #5 Joined: May 31, 2008 Gender: Male Nationality: Portugayse Favorite Quote: Blame is the playing of children and is given to many like a gift that cannot be returned. Acceptance is the tool of the mature that is rarely loaned out.	What, no one likes gharials here?



miocenemadness	Jul 5 2012, 02:31 PM Post #3
Fire alone will save the Clan... Posts: 351 Group: Members Member #729 Joined: Mar 15, 2012 Gender: Male Area of expertise: Alternative Evolution Nationality: Kentucky, and I am proud of it.	Perhaps gharials could produce large predatory forms that resemble a quadrupedal spinosaurid dinosaur. I also believe that a few pinniped-like forms could develop, as could some freshwater river dolphin-like forms.



Watcher In The Puddle	Jul 5 2012, 02:38 PM Post #4
Spaghetti Posts: 2,577 Group: Members Member #450 Joined: Dec 18, 2010 Gender: Male Nationality: Spanish Favorite Quote: "In a game like this there is no way to win. Only lose more slowly."	This is for the near future Mio. Humans wipe out a lot of creatures and you need to assess whether they will survive us before you turn them into the next dinosaurs. Plus they wouldnt need to change their anatomy. Personally, I have taken a rather cold look on extinction as I was into biology at a rather young age, so it does not affect the fact that some beautiful species is now extinct as much as it did. Also, all individuals eventually die, as do all species eventually pass, some prematurely. But, if I was to actually answer your question, I must say they are doing better than a first look may suggest, I have heard of a few conservation efforts. Edited by Watcher In The Puddle, Jul 5 2012, 02:39 PM.



JohnFaa	Jul 5 2012, 04:21 PM Post #5
Adveho in mihi Lucifer Posts: 7,699 Group: Members Member #5 Joined: May 31, 2008 Gender: Male Nationality: Portugayse Favorite Quote: Blame is the playing of children and is given to many like a gift that cannot be returned. Acceptance is the tool of the mature that is rarely loaned out.	miocenemadness Jul 5 2012, 02:31 PM Perhaps gharials could produce large predatory forms that resemble a quadrupedal spinosaurid dinosaur. I also believe that a few pinniped-like forms could develop, as could some freshwater river dolphin-like forms. I dout the first, though, since spinosaurs were already basically the dinosaur version of a gharial.



Fakey	Jul 7 2012, 12:50 AM Post #6
An unreasonable man. Post Rank: What The? Posts: 5,408 Group: Members Member #149 Joined: Mar 12, 2009 Gender: Male Area of expertise: Future Evolution Nationality: Murrca. Favorite Quote: “I have no fear of losing my life; if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it.” -Steve Irwin	I prefer gavial. How often do I really get to use the letter 'v'? Not very. But yes. SHOW DA GAVIALS LURV.



JohnFaa	Jul 7 2012, 05:24 AM Post #7
Adveho in mihi Lucifer Posts: 7,699 Group: Members Member #5 Joined: May 31, 2008 Gender: Male Nationality: Portugayse Favorite Quote: Blame is the playing of children and is given to many like a gift that cannot be returned. Acceptance is the tool of the mature that is rarely loaned out.	Indeed. Gavial is also the only name used for them in portuguese. Edited by JohnFaa, Jul 7 2012, 05:24 AM.



El Squibbonator	Jul 8 2012, 08:25 AM Post #8
The Third Child Posts: 1,803 Group: Members Member #169 Joined: May 5, 2009 Gender: Male Area of expertise: Future Evolution Nationality: USA Favorite Quote: Maybe if we started looking at whats the same instead of always looking at whats different. . .well, who knows-- Meowth	I personally don't see a very bright future for gharials/gavials and their relatives. However, any crocodilians that do survive could easily re-evolve their body plan and niche. Right now, the slender shouted crocodile seems like the obvious candidate for this. But really, any crocodilian could evolve this way under the right circumstances. Edited by El Squibbonator, Jul 8 2012, 08:26 AM.



Canis Lupis	Jul 8 2012, 02:41 PM Post #9
I'm watching you. Posts: 5,540 Group: Global Mods Member #95 Joined: Oct 16, 2008 Gender: Male Area of expertise: Future Evolution Nationality: United States Favorite Quote: "A speccer once tried to tell me I was wrong. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."	I'm with El Squibbonator. I don't think that either gharial (that's what I learned them as when I firts learned about them in ZooBooks (tell me someone else read them as a kid!)) will make it. They just seem way too endangered to push through. If I could snap my fingers and make humans go extinct at this instant, I think they could survive. But since humans are probably going to last another hundred years or more, I doubt they will survive. Now, I do believe that the slender snouted crocodile will push through. They will decline some more and they may not survive this human extinction with large numbers, but they will survive. And I do think that they have the most potential of any reptile (other than the marine iguana) to become the next line of truly marine reptiles. Ultimate fantasy when it concerns gharial future (though it probably would not happen)? All cetaceans (including the delphennids (dolphins, orcas), which, realistically, will survive) go extinct, openning up a whale-like niche. These slender snout crocodiles evolve to take it and evolve into a scalier version of icthyosaurs. Probably not going to happen, but that's my ultimate marine crocodile fantasy.



Watcher In The Puddle	Jul 8 2012, 02:46 PM Post #10
Spaghetti Posts: 2,577 Group: Members Member #450 Joined: Dec 18, 2010 Gender: Male Nationality: Spanish Favorite Quote: "In a game like this there is no way to win. Only lose more slowly."	Only another hundred years you plan for humanity?.....that deserves it's own thread...



JohnFaa	Jul 8 2012, 03:31 PM Post #11
Adveho in mihi Lucifer Posts: 7,699 Group: Members Member #5 Joined: May 31, 2008 Gender: Male Nationality: Portugayse Favorite Quote: Blame is the playing of children and is given to many like a gift that cannot be returned. Acceptance is the tool of the mature that is rarely loaned out.	Well, nobody knows how many slender-snouted crocs are still alive, though I presume they'd survive, specially with breeding programs in captivity. Do note that, in the Cenozoic, marine gharials and whales co-existed until the icea ages (when the oceans became cold), so you can have both cetaceans and gharials/marine crocodiles.



Canis Lupis	Jul 8 2012, 05:44 PM Post #12
I'm watching you. Posts: 5,540 Group: Global Mods Member #95 Joined: Oct 16, 2008 Gender: Male Area of expertise: Future Evolution Nationality: United States Favorite Quote: "A speccer once tried to tell me I was wrong. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."	Watcher: That guess is more of my own, personal belief. As far as I know, there is no basis for it in scientific fact or theory. John: Yeah, I know cetaceans can co-exist with marine gharials. That's one reason that scenario I mentioned probably would not happen.



Fakey	Jul 8 2012, 09:06 PM Post #13
An unreasonable man. Post Rank: What The? Posts: 5,408 Group: Members Member #149 Joined: Mar 12, 2009 Gender: Male Area of expertise: Future Evolution Nationality: Murrca. Favorite Quote: “I have no fear of losing my life; if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it.” -Steve Irwin	Canis Lupis Jul 8 2012, 02:41 PM (that's what I learned them as when I firts learned about them in ZooBooks (tell me someone else read them as a kid!)) OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD!!!! YOU READ THEM TOO? Man, I had to throw my collection away because a mouse got in the box and shat on them. Fuck Rodentia.



Zoroaster	Jul 9 2012, 12:19 AM Post #14
Spry Fundiment Posts: 1,481 Group: Members Member #430 Joined: Nov 12, 2010 Gender: Male Area of expertise: Xenobiology Nationality: Antipodean Antideluvian Neanderthal Bolshevik - speccer formerly known as Magoo	I love gavials.... my favourite living crocodilians (just a shame those South Pacific mekosuchians didn't survive human contact - or they'd be my favourite)



JohnFaa	Jul 9 2012, 05:28 AM Post #15
Adveho in mihi Lucifer Posts: 7,699 Group: Members Member #5 Joined: May 31, 2008 Gender: Male Nationality: Portugayse Favorite Quote: Blame is the playing of children and is given to many like a gift that cannot be returned. Acceptance is the tool of the mature that is rarely loaned out.	Magoo Jul 9 2012, 12:19 AM I love gavials.... my favourite living crocodilians (just a shame those South Pacific mekosuchians didn't survive human contact - or they'd be my favourite) There were also Pleistocene marine gharials in the South Pacific I'm confident that gharial genetic material will be preserved for cloning, but if that doesn't work, at least the slender snout will survive. Edited by JohnFaa, Jul 9 2012, 05:29 AM.



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