Today, the last 200 breeding gharial try to bask and nest on river banks gouged by rampant sand mining and farming. The Yamuna and Ganga may be holy rivers, but they are also among the most polluted in the world. More than 100 gharial died in the winter of 2007-08 from toxin-caused kidney failure in the Chambal, a Yamuna tributary, caused by a suspected pollutant.
