Precarious conservation of the Orinoco crocodile

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I was surprised to learn that the Orinoco crocodile is severely endangered, reduced from a historical population of millions to only 1500ish individuals.

Is there a captive breeding program in zoos for this species? I don't think that I have seen it in any of the major American zoos

Here is an update on the conservation program and captive breeding scene in Venezuela, and it isn't good:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/26/w...predator.html?ref=science&_r=0&pagewanted=all
 
DavidBrown said:
Is there a captive breeding program in zoos for this species? I don't think that I have seen it in any of the major American zoos[/url]
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In 1997 a pair of Orinoco Crocodiles - 'Juancho' and 'Miranda' - arrived at the Dallas World Aquarium, courtesy of the Venezuelan Government. Since 2003, over 100 have hatched at the DWA, including 55 returned to Venezuela.
 
After about 40 years absent from Europe, the species has recently returned to a single collection - Eskilstrup Krokodille Zoo in Denmark.
 
Zoos in North America that house the species include Brookfield, Dallas World Aquarium (as MikeG said before), Miami (which houses all males), and Gladys Porter (which houses a breeding pair.)
 
I saw the species at both the Newport Aquarium and, I believe, Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo over the past summer. Both of which house more than one animal.

~Thylo:cool:
 
San Antonio also has some. Outside of the animals at Gladys Porter, I believe that all are the offspring of the pair at DWA.
 
There are several unrelated Orinoco adults in North America. Though, DWA's pair has been the most productive.

Miami, i believe, was the first to breed them. Despite what is on display, they do have an off-display crocodile facility.

And St. Augustine Alligator Farm does have all crocodile species, even in light of new research (from what I've been told by staff). However, they may not all be on display at the same time. Last time I was there, a few years ago, only the Philippine crocodile was not on display.
 
jbnbsn99 said:
Outside of the animals at Gladys Porter, I believe that all are the offspring of the pair at DWA.
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The Gladys Porter pair apparently came from The Seaway Serpentarium, Ontario, Canada. When the Serpentarium's owner, Karel Fortyn, passed away suddenly in May 2011, the reptile collection was dispersed. Makes me wonder how a private owner in Canada obtained a pair of Orinoco Crocodiles?
 
MikeG said:
The Gladys Porter pair apparently came from The Seaway Serpentarium, Ontario, Canada. When the Serpentarium's owner, Karel Fortyn, passed away suddenly in May 2011, the reptile collection was dispersed. Makes me wonder how a private owner in Canada obtained a pair of Orinoco Crocodiles?
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I'm sure there are a lot of Orinoco Crocodiles in captivity in the private sector. They almost always have more species and do better with them than public zoos. I'd bet that every species of Crocodilian (except maybe the Gharial) can be found around the private sector.

~Thylo:cool:
 
There are currently Fifty living C. intermedius being managed. These include the ones sent to Denmark. They can be found on display at Fourteen institutions. Ten are AZA and Four are non-AZA. The population is presented in six states: Texas (four institutions), Florida (six institutions), Kentucky (one institution), Illinois (one institution), Arizona (one institution) and New Jersey (one institution). Institutions showing interest in future display of C. intermedius are Living Planet Aquarium, in Utah and Reptile Lagoon in South Carolina. There are 1.1 founders at DWA. There are also two groups of potential founders. 1.1 at GPZ (from Canada) and 1.2 at Saint Augustine (from Venezuela). There is also 0.1 on loan from Miami at another facility with an unknown origin that may be unrelated to the clade at DWA & SAAF.
 
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