Liver cirrhosis kills 26 crocodiles in north India
Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:45am EST

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - As many as 26 endangered crocodiles have been found dead over the last three days in northern India and experts attribute the rare mass deaths to cirrhosis of the liver, authorities said on Friday.

The reptiles died in the waters of the Chambal river, which runs along the borders of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and the central state of Madhya Pradesh, baffling experts as it is considered their natural habitat.

"Autopsies confirm liver cirrhosis as the cause of death," D.N.S. Suman, Uttar Pradesh's top wildlife official, told Reuters from Etawah town on the banks of the Chambal where experts have camped to investigate the deaths.

Poisoning was not suspected as fish in the river had not died, Suman said, adding that scientists would test the water for the presence of any liver-damaging toxins.

Cirrhosis is marked by the loss of liver tissue, leading to the loss of function of the vital organ.

(Reporting by Sharat Pradhan; Editing by Y.P. Rajesh and Sanjeev Miglani)

© Reuters 2007 All rights reserved

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Showing up every day isn't enough. There are a lot of guys who show up every day who shouldn't have showed up at all. - James Caan

It is the polluted water, no other reason, probably too many heavy metals in it.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

Yeah, even though the fish can be OK, they may still have trace amounts of pollutants, but if you're at the top of the food chain and you eat hundreds of them it adds up. Have you guys seen what they do in those rivers? Pretty much everything. Throw in the occasional catastrophic flood and you have a river with less water than everything else. Uggh.

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1984 300D turbo, 250K
1971 MGBGT, 101K
2007 VW Jetta, 4K

Eating winos that fall in?