On Saturday, March 19, at 8 pm Eastern, we'll be welcoming Dr. Patrick Aust of the Madras Croc Bank as a guest at our Thirteenth Annual Chat Month.

Gharials are some of the most revered animals in the reptile world. Many in the reptile community have never seen one up close and personal, but that doesn't make the desire to help them in the wild any less great.

The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology is one of the largest reptile zoos in the world and one of the oldest non-government environmental organizations in Asia.

It was founded by Rommulus Whitaker in 1976 with the specific goal of securing breeding populations of the three species of Indian crocodile: the mugger (Crocodylus palustris), the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) and the rarest of all, the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus). Today, Croc Bank is home to 14 species of crocodilians, two of which are listed by the IUCN as critically endangered with a further three listed as threatened.

As the need for the conservation of reptiles grew, the Croc Bank increased its repertoire to include turtles, lizards and snakes, and it came to be known as the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Center for Herpetology in 2003.

Dr. Patrick Aust, a self taught herper and Ph.D biologist, is the director of the Croc Bank. He will join us on Saturday, March 19, at 8 pm Eastern, and we will discuss some of the history, projects and conservation efforts currently going on.

This year, like last, we'll be bringing you our guests in live streaming audio, with a text-based chat room running simultaneously so you can ask questions and discuss the interview with other listeners.

New this year, we'll be streaming over the Animal Wise Network, a popular, successful 24/7 channel featuring original content and interviews about animals and animal issues.

To listen and participate, just log into the kingsnake.com chat room, then click "Listen now" in the upper left-hand corner.

Learn more about how listening to streaming interviews here.