West African Crocodiles

S

swainsje

New Member
I am a second year university student and I was wondering if any European Zoos have any of these three crocodiles in their collections.

West African Dwarf Crocodile
Scientific Name: Osteolaemus tetraspis

Nile Crocodile
Scientific Name: Crocodylus niloticus

West African Long-Snouted Crocodile
Scientific Name: Crocodylus cataphractus

Also, is there any European zoo with any experience of breeding crocodiles?
:)
 
swainsje said:
Also, is there any European zoo with any experience of breeding crocodiles?
Click to expand...

Crocodile Zoo in Denmark has bred 9 different species of crocodile which is equal to the world record for any zoo. They also keep all of the above mentioned species.

Let me also just add the Zootierliste link to the slender-snouted crocodiles that BjoernN forgot:

Any reason that you are so interested in African crocodiles?
 
Thanks everyone

I am an Ecology student and next year I need to do a 3rd year research paper. I want to do it on these three species as they are under threat and often overlooked.

I am interested in the idea of helping them to breed and have better survival in the wild. So rather than take them out of their setting, help them in their setting. And for that I wanted some information about the species in captivity.

Crocs are not common in zoos in the UK, so I thought Europe might be a good idea. The Crocodile Zoo in Denmark sounds like I need a visit. And any breeding records would be very useful too.

Thanks again everyone.

Jenny
 
Rotterdam has both Crocodylus cataphractus and Crocodylus niloticus
Emmen has just Crocodylus cataphractus and has one of few breeding pairs.
Only they have to remove the eggs every year as they cannot offload any
young animals.
 
Shame about the eggs

Here we have endangered species which has so little known about its status in the IUCN has it as undetermined and we can't find somewhere in this big wide world to take the eggs and hatch them. A very sorry state. Also, having looked at ISIS there are very few breeding pairs of any these three species anywhere lots of single specimens. Not very friendly - can't we move them around so we end up with pairs - probably but then what do you do with the off-spring.

At least we have genes outside the native gene pool areas.

Has the zoo with breeding pair ever hatched any of the eggs? Do we know if they are fertile eggs?

Regards

Jenny
 
4-3 of the 5-4 animals they have are young animals from their breeding pair. If I m correct these young were "an accident" and now Emmen is stuck with them as no other zoo wants or can take them.
 
swainsje said:
The Crocodile Zoo in Denmark sounds like I need a visit.
Click to expand...

If you do decide to take a trip to Denmark feel free to contact me. I can help you with your travel arrangements once in the country in regards to trains and directions.

Of course you can also contact Crocodile Zoo directly via this link. René Hedegarrd, the owner, is a very friendly man and extremely passionate about crocodilians.

Another group of people that you might want to contact is the IUCN Crocodile Specialists Group.


swainsje said:
Has the zoo with breeding pair ever hatched any of the eggs? Do we know if they are fertile eggs?
Click to expand...

When I visited Emmen Zoo in 2008 I saw LOTS of youns slender-snouted crocodiles in a separate pool from their parents. It is a real shame if they can't be send off somewhere...

Both the West African dwarf crocodiles and nile crocodiles are quite common species in the European zoos. The slender-snouted crocs can be found in a number of collections but unfortunately not many of them are breeding.
 
I for one, think that African crocodile sp. simply take away space of more endangered crocodilians, like Siamese and Philippine crocodiles and Malayan and Indian gharials.
 
Jurek7 said:
I for one, think that African crocodile sp. simply take away space of more endangered crocodilians, like Siamese and Philippine crocodiles and Malayan and Indian gharials.
Click to expand...

I do not agree, I do if you just refer to Nile crocs. In order to have representative collections of crocs we need to look at each and every contintent and determine which species to aim for. That process has not happened fully in terms of crocs in European zoos, in part due to reluctance to engage.

However, both West African dwarfs and long-snouted are endangered, whereas their exact status remains indeterminate due to research paucity. To have research into a more than overlooked group of reptilians like the crocs is laudable.

Jenny, I welcome your determination and will pm you on contacts et cetera.

K.B.
 
Hello,

I also think it is great that somebody is doing a project on crocodiles in zoos!

But don't forget there is a competition for zoo space between African and other species.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top