There are over 100 tiny tails and pointy, scaly snouts swarming over their daddy, literally covering his massive back as he swims through the river.

The river is located in the National Chambal Sanctuary in northern India, and the extraordinarily reptilian photograph was snapped by photographer and conservationist Dhritiman Mukherjee, who reportedly spends 280 days a year in the field and has seen some extraordinary sights across northern India and beyond.

Mukherjee uses his wonderful talent as a photographer to advance the cause of wildlife conservation. This extraordinary picture of a father crocodile piggybacking his month-old children on his back highlights a critically endangered species known as the gharial crocodile — a freshwater crocodile native to northern India.

Many decades ago, there were some 20,000 specimens like this dad living in the wild. Due to habitat loss, ever since the 1930s, their numbers have dwindled to about 1,000 mature individuals today.

Gharial crocodiles live across South Asia, but two-thirds of their numbers are located in the Uttar Pradesh sanctuary in northern India.

The incredible photograph snapped by Mukherjee was submitted to the Natural History Museum in London’s prestigious Photographer of the Year competition in 2020 (which was held online due to the lockdown) and it garnered a lot of excitement, as it is indeed a rare and significant sight.

He took the photograph from a safe distance, wisely.