The widely shared image of baby crocodilians riding on an adult’s back is Dhritiman Mukherjee’s Head Start, a photograph of gharials at India’s National Chambal Sanctuary. The Natural History Museum highly commended it in its 2020 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The animals are gharials—not generic crocodiles—and the often-repeated count of 100 hatchlings has not been verified.
Which photograph is it?
The image is titled Head Start, by Indian wildlife photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee. The Natural History Museum’s official 2020 Wildlife Photographer of the Year entry identifies the location as the National Chambal Sanctuary in India and describes a four-metre-long male gharial supporting month-old offspring. Mukherjee watched silently from the riverbank, according to the museum’s account.
The photograph was highly commended in the 2020 competition; it is not a newly captured image merely because it has resurfaced in later headlines.
Are they crocodiles, and is there really 100?
They are gharials
These reptiles are gharials (Gavialis gangeticus), a distinctive crocodilian species recognized by its very long, narrow snout. Calling them “baby crocodiles” is understandable shorthand, but “gharial hatchlings” is more precise.
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The exact number is uncertain
The museum’s official image profile does not give a hatchling count. Secondary reports give different figures: The Epoch Times described “over 100,” while The Times of India reported “150-odd.” Those accounts do not establish a reconciled count, so the safest description is a large group or dozens of hatchlings—not exactly 100.
Why are the young on an adult’s back?
The museum explains that a male gharial may mate with seven or more females, forming a large crèche for their hatchlings. That is a general account of the species’ behavior, not evidence about how many females the pictured male mated with. The same museum profile notes that gharials of all sexes care for young at various times. The photograph captures a male with offspring; it should not be taken to mean fathers alone raise gharial young.
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As broader species context, National Geographic’s gharial profile says young gharials stay with their mothers for weeks or months. That general observation does not negate the specific male-care behavior documented in this photograph.
What the image says about gharials—and what it does not
Gharials are classified as Critically Endangered. The IUCN’s 2022 account identifies construction projects and water extraction as pressures on the river ecosystems they depend on. It also reports that conservation programmes in India and Nepal have increased gharial numbers since the 1970s.
The Natural History Museum’s competition profile gives an estimate of around 650 adult gharials worldwide. The page does not state a census date, so that figure is best understood as the estimate reported in the profile, not as a verified population count for 2026.
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The image is copyrighted to Mukherjee. The Natural History Museum says its competition images may not be reproduced except as permitted by copyright law and directs media image-use enquiries to the museum. Its image entry is the place to consult for those enquiries; the photograph should not be treated as freely reusable just because it is widely shared.
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