Siamese crocodile

Siamese crocodile
Siamese crocodiles
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Crocodylidae
Genus: Crocodylus
Species: C. siamensis
Binomial name
Crocodylus siamensis
Schneider, 1801

Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) is a freshwater crocodile native to Indonesia (Borneo and possibly Java), Brunei, East Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. The species is critically endangered and already extirpated from many regions. Its other common names include: Siamese freshwater crocodile, Singapore small-grain, cocodrilo de Siam, crocodile du Siam, buaja, buaya kodok, chorakhe nam chuet, and soft-belly.[2]

Characteristics

The Siamese crocodile is a medium-sized, freshwater crocodilian, with a relatively broad, smooth snout and an elevated, bony crest behind each eye. Overall, it is an olive-green colour, with some variation to dark-green.[3] Young specimens measure 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) and weigh 6–12 kg (13–26 lb), growing up to 2.1 m (6.9 ft) and a weight of 40–70 kg (88–154 lb) as an adult.[4][5][6] The largest female specimens can measure 3.2 m (10 ft) and weight 150 kg (330 lb)[7] Large male specimens can reach 4 m (13 ft) and 350 kg (770 lb) in weight.[8] Most adults do not exceed 3 m (10 ft) in length, although hybrids in captivity can grow much larger.

Siamese Crocodile-Biblical Zoo

Distribution and habitat

The historic range of the Siamese crocodile included most of Southeast Asia. This species is now extinct in the wild or nearly extinct from most countries except Cambodia.[2] Formerly it was found in Cambodia, Indonesia (Borneo and possibly Java), Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, and Burma.[9]

Siamese crocodiles occur in a wide range of freshwater habitats, including slow-moving rivers and streams, lakes, seasonal oxbow lakes, marshes and swamplands.[10]

Biology and behaviour

Siamese crocodile sleeping with its mouth open to release heat

Despite conservation concerns, many aspects of C. siamensis life history in the wild remain unknown, particularly regarding its reproductive biology.[10]

Adults feed mainly on fish and snakes, but also eat amphibians and small mammals.[2]

Very little is known about the natural history of this species in the wild, but females build mound-nests constructed from scraped-up plant debris mixed with mud.[3] In captivity, these crocodiles breed during the wet season (April to May), laying between 15 and 50 eggs, which are then guarded until they hatch.[11] After incubation, the female will assist her young as they break out of their eggs and then carry the hatchlings to the water in her jaws.[12]

Pure, unhybridised examples of this species are generally unaggressive towards humans, and unprovoked attacks are unknown.[13]

Conservation status and threats

This crocodile is classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List,[14] and is listed on Appendix I of CITES.

It is one of the most endangered crocodiles in the wild, although it is extensively bred in captivity.[11]

Threats

Siamese crocodiles are under threat from human disturbance and habitat occupation, which is forcing remaining populations to the edges of their former range.[11] Extinct from 99% of its original range, the Siamese crocodile is considered one of the least studied and most critically endangered crocodilians in the world.[10] Although few wild populations remain, more than 700,000 C. siamensis are held on commercial crocodile farms in Southeast Asia.[10]

In 1992, it was believed to be extremely close to or fully extinct in the wild until 2000 when scientists from Fauna and Flora International and the Government of Cambodia's Forestry Administration confirmed the presence of Siamese crocodiles in the Cardamom Mountains in Southwest Cambodia. Since then, surveys have identified around 30 sites in Cambodia that contain wild Siamese crocodiles (conservatively estimated to number between 200 and 400 individuals in total), a tiny population in Thailand (possibly as few as two individuals, discounting recent reintroductions), a small population in Vietnam (possibly fewer than 100 individuals), Cat Tien National Park has about 200, and a more sizeable population in Laos. In March 2005, conservationists found a nest containing juvenile Siamese crocodiles in the southern Lao province of Savannakhet. There are no recent records from Malaysia, Burma or Brunei. A small but important population of the crocodiles is also known to live in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Habitat degradation

Factors causing loss of habitat include: conversion of wetlands for agriculture, chemical fertilisers use, use of pesticides in rice production, and an increase in the population of cattle.[15] The effects of warfare stemming from the conflicts in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia during the Vietnam War (from land mines to aerial bombardment) have also been factored.

Many river systems, including those in protected areas, have hydroelectric power dams approved or proposed, which are likely to cause the loss of about half of the remaining breeding colonies within the next ten years.[10] One cause for habitat degradation via hydrological changes, for the Siamese crocodile, is the implementation of dams on the upper Mekong River and its major tributaries.[16] Potential impacts of dam construction include wetland loss and altered flooding cycle with a dry season flow 50% greater than under natural conditions.[17]

Exploitation and fragmentation

Illegal capture of wild crocodiles for supply to farms is an ongoing threat, as well as incidental capture/drowning in fishing nets and traps.[10] C. siamensis currently has extremely low and fragmented remaining populations with little proven reproduction in the wild.

Siamese crocodiles have historically been captured for skins and to stock commercial crocodile farms. In 1945, skin hunting for commercial farms was banned by the French colonial administration of Cambodia.[18] In the late 1940s, populations spurred the development of farms and harvesting wild crocodiles for stocking these farms.[19] Protection was abolished by the Khmer Rouge (1975–79) but later reinstated under Article 18 of the Fishery Law of 1987, which "forbids the catching, selling, and transportation of...[wild] crocodiles..."[18]

Crocodile farming now has a huge economic impact in the provinces surrounding Tonle Sap, where 396 farms held over 20,000 crocodiles in 1998.[18] Also, many crocodiles were exported from Cambodia since the mid-1980s to stock commercial farms in Thailand, Vietnam, and China.[20]

Despite legal protection, a profitable market exists for the capture and sale of crocodiles to farms since the early 1980s.[20] This chronic overharvesting has led to the decline of the wild Siamese crocodile.

Conservation and management

Fossils, formerly referred to as Crocodylus ossifragus

The current situation of C. siamensis represents a significant improvement from the status reported in the 1992 Action Plan (effectively extinct in the wild), but poses major new challenges for quantitative survey and effective conservation action if the species is to survive. While the species remains critically endangered, there is a sufficient residual wild population, albeit severely fragmented across several areas and countries, to provide a basis for recovery.

The Siamese crocodile is relatively unthreatening to people (compared to C. porosus), and the possibility of people and crocodiles coexisting in natural settings seems possible. The powerful economic force of the commercial industry based on C. siamensis also needs to be mobilised and channelled for conservation advantage. Considerable effort and action is still required, but the species has a reasonable chance of survival if the necessary actions can be implemented.

Yayasan Ulin (The Ironwood Foundation) is running a small project to conserve an important wetland habitat in the area of East Kalimantan which is known to contain the crocodiles.[21] Most of them, though, live in Cambodia, where isolated, small groups are present in several remote areas of the Cardamom Mountains, in the southwest of the country, and also in the Vireakchey National Park, in the northeast of the country.

In Cambodia Fauna and Flora International and the Government of Cambodia's Forestry Administration have established the Cambodian Crocodile Conservation Programme for the protection and recovery of Siamese crocodiles. This programme works with a network of indigenous villages who are helping to protect key sites such as Veal Veng Marsh (Veal Veng District), the Tatai River (Thmar Bang District) and the Araeng River. The latter is considered to have the second largest population of Siamese crocodiles in the world, but is currently threatened by the proposed construction of a massive dam in the river. During the heavy monsoon period of June–November, Siamese crocodiles take advantage of the increase in water levels to move out of the river and onto large lakes and other local bodies of water, returning to their original habitat once water levels start receding back to their usual levels.

The Cambodian Crocodile Conservation Programme conducted DNA analysis of 69 crocodiles in Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre in Cambodia 2009, and found 35 of them were purebred C. siamensis. Conservationists from the Forestry Administration and Fauna and Flora International subsequently launched a conservation breeding program at the Centre. Since 2012, approximately 50 purebred Cambodian Siamese crocodiles have been released into community-protected areas to reinforce the depleted wild populations.

Poaching is a severe threat to this species, with the value of wild Siamese crocodiles reaching hundreds of dollars in the black market, where they are illegally taken into crocodile farms and hybridized with other, larger species.[22] The total wild population is unknown, since most groups are in isolated areas where access is extremely complicated. A number of captively held individuals are the result of hybridization with the saltwater crocodile, but several thousand "pure" individuals do exist in captivity, and are regularly bred at crocodile farms, especially in Thailand.

Bang Sida National Park in Thailand, near Cambodia, has a project to reintroduce Siamese crocodile into the wild. A number of young crocodiles have been released into a small and remote river in the park, not accessible to visitors.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is working with the government of Lao PDR on a new programme to save this critically endangered crocodile and its wetland habitat. In August, 2011, a press release announced the successful hatching of a clutch of 20 Siamese crocodiles. These eggs were then incubated at the Laos Zoo. This project represents a new effort by WCS to conserve the biodiversity and habitat of Laos’ Savannakhet Province, promotes conservation of biodiversity for the whole landscape, and relies on community involvement from local residents.[23]

Priority projects

High priority projects include:[24]

Other projects include:

In Pop Culture

A Siamese crocodile stars as the titular monster in the 1978 Thailand film Crocodile.

References

  1. ↑ Bezuijen, M., Simpson, B., Behler, N., Daltry, J. & Tempsiripong, Y. (2012). "Crocodylus siamensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 20 May 2014. Listed as Critically Endangered (CR A2cd v3.1)
  2. 1 2 3 Crocodilian Species List: (January 2009). "Crocodylus siamensis".
  3. 1 2 Steel, Rodney (1989). Crocodiles. London.
  4. ↑ Experimental inoculation of broad-nosed caimans (Caiman latirostris) and Siamese crocodiles (Crocodylus siamensis) with Mycoplasma alligatoris
  5. ↑ Adjuntament de Barcelona - Crocodile
  6. ↑ Renegade reptiles by Tom Lee
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ Britton, A. "Crocodylus Siamensis (Schneider, 1801)". Retrieved 2011-11-29.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Simpson, Boyd; Bezuijen (2010). "Siamese Crocodile Crocodylus Siamensis" (PDF). Crocodiles. Third Edition. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
  11. 1 2 3 Ross, R.P. "Crocodiles: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. Second Edition.". Retrieved 2011-11-29.
  12. ↑ Alderton, D. (1991). Crocodiles and Alligators of the World. Blandford, London.
  13. ↑ Cox, M.J. van Dijk, P.P, Nabhitabhata, J and Thirakhupt, K. (2009) A photographic guide to Snakes and other reptiles of Thailand and South-East Asia. Asia Books Co. Ltd. Bangkok
  14. ↑ IUCN Red List (November 2011). "Crocodylus Siamensis". IUCN. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
  15. ↑ Phiapalath, Phaivanh; Voladet, Hicks. "Wetland Priority Sites in Lao PDR - the top five priority sites" (PDF). IUCN (Climate Change Impact and Vulnerability Assessment for the Wetlands of the Lower Mekong Basin for Adaptation Planning). Retrieved 2011-11-29.
  16. ↑ Hogan, Z.S.; Moyle, May; Vander Zanden, Baird (2004). "The imperiled giants of the Mekong". American Scientist 92: 228–237. doi:10.1511/2004.3.228.
  17. ↑ Lamberts, D (2001). "Tonle Sap fisheries: A Case Study on Floodplain Gillnet Fisheries in Siem Reap Cambodia.". RAP Publication (Bangkok: FAO REgional Office for Asia and the Pacific).
  18. 1 2 3 Thuok; Tana (1994). "Country report on crocodile conservation in Cambodia." (PDF). Crocodiles: Proceedings of the 12th meeting of the Crocodile Specialist Group. IUCN Publications: 3–15.
  19. ↑ Kimura, W (1969). "Crocodiles in Cambodia, Research Report No. 3 Atawgawa Tropical Garden and Alligator Farm".
  20. 1 2 Thorbjarnarson, J (2001). "herpetology trip report: Cambodia. Report to Wildlife Conservation Society".
  21. ↑ http://www.speciesconservation.org/projects/Siamese-Crocodile/309
  22. ↑ Associated Press:Endangered crocodiles hatched in Cambodia
  23. ↑ "WCS Helps Hatch Rare Siamese Crocodiles in Lao PDR". Retrieved 2011-12-01.
  24. ↑ Ross, James. "Crocodiles: Status Survey and conservation Action Plan. Second Edition. IUCN/SSC Crocodile Specialist Group". Retrieved 2011-11-29.

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