Conservationists in Cambodia found 106 eggs of rare Siamese crocodile species in a western Cambodian wildlife sanctuary, officials said on Thursday, calling it the biggest discovery in the past 20 years, giving new hope for the world’s rarest crocodile species’ survival.
The group discovered the species eggs in Cardamom National Park in May. Between June 27 and 30, a total of 60 eggs were successfully hatched, according to a joint statement issued by the Cambodian ministries of agriculture and environment along with the conservation group Fauna and Flora.
“This discovery indicates that the area is a key habitat for wild crocodiles, providing hope for the species recovery,” the statement said.
Photo: Fauna and Flora, via AFP
The area and the young reptiles have been under the protection of Cardamom National Park Wildlife Sanctuary rangers, it added.
The crocodile species was once widespread across Southeast Asia, but is now listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It had all but disappeared by the 1990s due to a combination of poaching, habitat destruction and crossbreeding with other crocodile species.
Cambodian Minister of Environment Eang Sophalleth said his ministry is working on the conservation and habitat restoration of these critically endangered Siamese crocodiles.
“The Siamese crocodiles play an important role in the ecosystem and the discovery of the five nets successfully hatching 60 eggs reflects that the Cardamom National Park is a safe and suitable habitat for this species,” Sophalleth said in Thursday’s statement.
It is believed only about 1,000 Siamese crocodiles remain in the wild, with more than 300 of them in Cambodia.
In 2017, wildlife researchers found six eggs in Sre Ambel District in the southern province of Koh Kong as they were exploring for tracks and signs of the reptile. Later in September 2021, eight hatchlings were found by conservationists in a river in the Srepok wildlife sanctuary in eastern Cambodia which raised hopes for its survival in the wild.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS