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The forest officials in the state have discovered Ghodahada reservoir in Orissa's Ganjam district as an ideal place of habitat for the Mugger, one of the endangered crocodile species found in the country.

The new habitat of the endangered Mugger has come to light when the forest officials found at least 29 Muggers in the reservoir located about 50 km from Berhampur in a recent census, forest officials said.

The two-day census of the Mugger was conducted recently for the first time by the forest department to know the exact number of crocodiles in the five-square-km reservoir, they said.

The Muggers are also sighted in Khaira river in Similipal, Satakosia and Ramatirtha areas in the state.

"On the first day of the census, we sighted 29 crocodiles of different sizes and on the second day their number was less," said Divisional Forest Officer (Berhampur) A K Jena.

Therefore, we have put the minimum number of the crocodiles in the reservoir at 29, he said.

The wildlife experts felt that their population in the reservoir was more than 29 as the second day census was affected due to the cyclonic weather.

The number of the juveniles was also not enumerated, they said, adding it would be known only when the survey would be conducted during the night.