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Philippine crocodile 0809

Page history last edited by ecop 14 years, 10 months ago

 

 

Crocodylus Mindorensis

 

 

 By: Paul David Hamline

 

 


Description and Rational

  

     The environmental challenge for the Philippine Crocodile is to save it from extinction. There is only one protected natural habitat left, and it is poorly guarded from hunters. The website “ARKive Images of Life on Earth” states that, “there may be less than one-hundred individuals left in the wild.” Should the Philippine Crocodile go away, then the animals that it feeds on would be left without a predator and would begin to reproduce more than they would usually. This would cause a chain of events that would induce chaos in their habitat’s fauna, flora and even the human population! As well, those who depend on the crocodile for its hide, teeth, and meat would be left without income, and would have to go elsewhere for work. And we know that they would first try to go to the city, and getting too many people in one place can cause an even bigger environmental problem! Some questions about the subject I still have are: where exactly is their natural habitat? After all, you can’t keep people from driving them out of their habitat if you don’t know where it is. Also I would like to get more info on what all we know about them. So far the most I have found is about as much info as you would get from a baseball card. Possible benefits of the crocodiles repopulating their old homes would be that we would be saving the income of those who harvest their skin and teeth for their living. There would be no more need to spend hundreds of pesos on clumsy repopulation efforts, and the money could instead be spent on more important things like cutting out of our Philippine national debt. Also, we would be preventing another case like the dodo, or the mammoth.

 

Biology

 

Common Names and Synonyms

     The Mindoro crocodile, or Crocodylus mindorensis, is a freshwater crocodile in the northern islands of the Philippines. Some other common names are the Philippine freshwater crocodile, and the Philippine Crocodile.

 

Classification

Kingdom:        Animalia(Animal)

Phylum:           Chordates(Vertebrate)

Class:               Reptilia(Reptile)

Order:              Crocodilia(caimans, crocodiles, and relatives)

Family:            Crocodylidae(Crocodiles)

Genus:             Crocodylus(Crocodiles again)

Species:           Crocodylus mindorensis (Mindoro Crocodile)

 

Morphology and Physical Description

            The Philippine Crocodile, or Crocodylus mindorensis, is a rather small freshwater crocodile. The males usually grow to be about three meters long. The females on the other hand, are slightly smaller. When born, they are very golden brown in color, and as they mature, their scales grow darker. They have a relatively broad snout for their size, and are heavily armored by dorsal armor. Their morphology is actually quite similar to the Crocodylus novaeguineae, or New Guinea Crocodile. Until recently, mindorensis was thought to be a subspecies of it. Their internal anatomy is very much like that of birds. An interesting feature of them is that the skin on their head is actually fused to the skull! Underneath their scales are plates of bone called osteoderms, which, like a tree, have annual growth rings. So by counting them you can find out their age. These plates are mostly on the back, but some are also on their bellies. Beneath the scales and the osteoderms, lies another protective armor built of rows of bony overlapping shingles called osteoscutes, which are embedded in the animal's back tissue. The spool-shaped vertebrae in their ancestors went from being biconcave to having a concave front and a convex back. This makes the vertebral column more flexible and strong, a useful adaptation when hunting in water.

 

Getting Food

The Philippine crocodile is carnivorous. It eats fish, birds, mammals, and sometimes other crocodiles. Although they may seem lazy, they only act that way because that is exactly what they want you to think. They are ambush predators, and they wait for the prey to come to them. However, when it gets in range they strike at lightning speed. They rarely bite off more than they can chew because they have bite strength of up to 3,000  pounds per square inch (psi). Even a large shark has, at most, 350 psi!

 

Reproduction

They begin mating at the end of the hot season, from January to May. Twelve weeks later the eggs hatch, and from 7 to 33 baby crocodiles hatch from their eggs. During mating season, the males will start to hiss, roar, and bellow. For a newly conceived crocodile, unlike humans whose sex is determined by special chromosomes, a crocodile’s sex is determined by temperature. If the fertilized egg is kept at 31.6 degrees Celsius it will be a boy. Anything else, whether higher or lower, is a girl. The female constructs a rather small mound of earth, into which she deposits between seven to twenty eggs. The female guards the nest with her life for about eighty-five days, until the babies hatch. The mothers then exhibit parental care for the young ones.

 

Environmental Factors

             Its main habitats are freshwater marshes, the tributaries of large rivers and small lakes and ponds. When hot a croc will open its mouth and “pant”, so as to get rid of the excess heat.  In addition they have been identified as helpful in these ways to the environment as well, to inhibit the encroachment of aquatic plants in the waterways by their constant movements; to maintain residual water-holes which serve as restocking reservoirs for smaller aquatic organisms; to enrich the nutrient content of estuaries and lakes by creating water-borne particles (dung), that are excellent food for invertebrate animals and fish. The massive population decline of the Philippine crocodile was originally caused by excessive over-exploitation for commercial use, but today the most problematic situation is the destruction of their habitat, causing them to lose their homes. Locals in this area are also in contact with the infamous estuarine or 'saltwater' crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), which is one of the largest reptiles in the world and has a reputation as a man-eater. This factor contributes to local intolerance of any crocodile species, even the small Philippine crocodile, which is often killed when encountered. The very word for 'crocodile' in the Filipino language is a vile insult.

 

Origin and Distribution

            From what information I have found, it would appear that the Philippine crocodile is indeed, a Philippine animal. Its current habitat is spread all across the islands of Busuanga, Jolo, Luzon, Masbate, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Samar as part of the historical range, but the current distribution is largely unverified, they are reported to be extirpated from Jolo, Luzon, Masbate and Samar. Next to the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis), the Philippine crocodile is considered to be the most endangered crocodilian in the world. Some authorities believe there may be less than 100 individuals left in the wild, although some wild habitat still remains.

 

Importance to People

            For many people in the regions where they live they provide good revenue, such as meat, skins and teeth. They also keep small pests, like rats that try to drink by the river, under control. Without them there might be a drastic difference in the animals that live in those areas. Those that are prey for the croc would thrive, as well as those with which it competes for food and territory. Those that eat it, including us humans, would either have to find another source, or move away. All these changes would then cause other changes, and thus might affect our whole planet! It is considered a threat in many places, because it is often confused for its bloodthirsty relative, the saltwater crocodile. The freshwater crocs are quite calm, so long as they are not disturbed, whilst the saltwater kind is vicious, and will attack on sighting any kind of prey. A few potential solutions might be to gather as many of them as possible into a zoo, to preserve them. That would still have its disadvantages, though, as then the argument about its effect on its environment comes into play. Or one could simply make a natural park around them, and ban people from coming in to harm them. Even then, people who had the croc as their main source of income will be out of a job. One other way would be to inform the people about the crocodile and the need to protect it. That way they would know how to better care for and protect the crocodile by not using such dangerous methods of fishing, or how to determine between a freshwater croc and a saltwater, so they only kill the ones that are excessively dangerous.. It would not help with them getting back to their original population, but it would stop some of the needless killing of them.

 

Survivability and Endangered Status

             The Crocodylus mindorensis is considered Critically Endangered, and thus is on the verge of extinction. Next to the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis), the Philippine crocodile is considered to be the most endangered crocodilian in the world. Some authorities believe there may be less than 100 individuals left in the wild, although some wild habitat still remains.They survive pretty well when left alone, but like in most cases of extinction or endangerment, when humans come in they usually through something out of balance, and upset the entire area, even if only through one animal. This species is protected from international trade by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), but there is only one officially protected area within the Philippines, and this is poorly enforced. At present, captive breeding takes place in a small programme run by the Silliman University and at the government-run Crocodile Farming Institute, which breeds crocodiles for commercial and conservation reasons. Sadly, there is currently little political will or local tolerance to save this ancient reptile in the wild and for the short term at least, captive breeding programmes may be the key to the, at least nominal, survival of this crocodile          

 

Potential Solutions

             As is shown by the previous section, the crocs main reason for being endangered is that they are not cared about. People don’t care enough about them to not destroy their homes. People don’t care enough about them to care about killing only the man eating saltwater crocs and not them. I believe though, that we are not just completely heartless Instead, I think the main reason we don’t care is because we just don’t know. Therefore, my main focus is getting the word out.

 

Possibility 1 -

Radio commercial

            I could go to a radio station and ask them to air a commercial about the crocodile to get the word to all their listeners.

 

Advantages:  Many people can hear about the endangerment of the Philippine crocodile, without it being too intrusive.

 

Disadvantages: There may not be enough time to get the message across. There would not be enough interaction with others for the message to settle in.

 

Possibility 2 -

Short movie clip

            I like to do movies, so this would be a fun one to do, as well as it could reach others well because people often like to watch short homemade films.

 

Advantages: As previously said, people like to watch thing like short homemade films, and so hopefully the audience would be captivated and pay close attention.

 

Disadvantages: I don’t have a video camera, and so it would be hard for me to make one on my own. Also, I would have trouble getting the movie shown, as I do not have a good way to show a large crowd a movie clip.

 

Possibility 3 -

Free brochure stand at Zoo (preferably near the crocodile’s exhibit)

            Where do you go to learn about animals? The zoo! So everyone there, theoretically, is there to get some knowledge about God’s wonderful creation.

 

Advantages: Who doesn’t like free stuff? It would be helpful in that anyone who wanted to learn a little extra about the crocodile, and it would be at a good place for them to want to read it. Were it at the front desk, then there is not much care. If you are at the exhibit itself, then you are more likely to want more information on the croc. Also, they may be encouraged to keep the document because of the quiz.

 

Disadvantages: It will just be paper, and so once they read it, they may just throw it in the trash. Then there wouldn’t be any passing on of the information.

 

Bibliography

 

Philippine crocodile, ARKive

http://www.arkive.org/philippine-crocodile/crocodylus-mindorensis/facts-and-status.html

 

Crocodylus mindorensis, Britton, Adam

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/csp_cmin.htm

 

Philippine Crocodile, Craig, Ryan

http://www.whozoo.org/Anlife2001/ryancrai/RPC_PhilippineCrocodile.htm

 

Philippine Crocodile, Earth’s Endangered Creatures

http://www.earthsendangered.com/profile.asp?view=c&ID=3&sp=94

 

Katael, Noel, Ark Avalon Zoo, interview-April-26-2009

 

Crocodylus mindorensis, PWRCC and Silliman University

http://www.pawb.gov.ph/uploaded_files/Crocodylus%20mindorensis.pdf

 

Philippine Crocodile, Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_crocodile

 

Philippine Crocodile, Wildlife Conservation Society

http://www.savingwildplaces.com/swp-home/swp-crocodile/4638873

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