WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
A basin-wide assessment surveyed about 7,680 km across 22 rivers and reported a minimum of 3,037 gharials in 13 rivers. The Chambal held 2,097 animals and the next-largest populations were far smaller. Habitat modeling classified only about 10% of the assessed network as highly suitable, while most river length was very low suitability; long-term Chambal counts also indicate recovery has slowed from the rapid gains of earlier decades.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Species recovery can coexist with geographic fragility. The practical question is no longer simply whether numbers are increasing, but whether multiple rivers can support self-sustaining populations so one stronghold is not carrying most of the species' demographic risk.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
The basin counts are minimum population sizes from daylight surveys without a formal detection model, and the habitat model lacked independent validation. More than 9,000 releases have occurred, but correlation between release effort and current abundance does not establish attribution.
SOURCE
Frontiers in Conservation Science
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