Madras Crocodile Bank Trust

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The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust or CrocBank is a reptile zoo and herpetology research station, located just south of the city of Chennai, in state of Tamil Nadu, India. It was begun in 1976 with the aim of saving the three the Indian species of crocodile - the marsh or mugger crocodile, the saltwater crocodile, and the gharial, which at the time were all nearing extinction. The captive breeding program at the CrocBank has been highly successful, with thousands of crocodiles reintroduced to the wild and more still sent to zoos and wildlife parks around the world. The CrocBank is currently home to over 2400 crocodiles, and also houses many species of turtles, snakes, and lizards which are viewable by the public. The Trust also publishes a biannual herpetology journal called Hamadryad, and is home to one of the largest libraries of herpetological literature in India.