3600 x 4800 px | 30,5 x 40,6 cm | 12 x 16 inches | 300dpi
Aufnahmedatum:
27. April 2008
Ort:
Venezuela
Weitere Informationen:
The Orinoco crocodile is a large, relatively long-nosed crocodile restricted to the middle and lower reaches of the Orinoco River in Venezuela and Colombia (Thorbjarnarson and Franz 1987). Although this crocodile was found in a wide variety of habitats, including rivers in tropical evergreen forest and piedmont streams in the foothills of the Andes, it reached its greatest numbers in the seasonal rivers of the llanos savanna region (Medem 1981, 1983, Godshalk 1982b, Thorbjarnarson and Hernández 1992). The Orinoco crocodile is a hole nesting species, laying its eggs in seasonally exposed sandbars and riverbanks early in the annual dry season (January–February). Clutch size is typically in the 40–70 range, and the young hatch out during the rise in river levels associated with the wet season (Thorbjarnarson and Hernández 1993a). Reported dry season concentrations of these crocodiles were very dense, a factor which facilitated hide hunting (Medem 1981, 1983). In smaller rivers that are reduced to a series of interconnected or isolated pools during the dry season, crocodiles aestivate in burrows dug into the river banks. Only a moderate amount of ecological information is available for this species. Accounts by Medem (1981, 1983) cover a number of aspects of its ecology in Colombia and Venezuela. Godshalk (1982b), Thorbjarnarson and Hernández (1990, 1993a, 1993b) deal with aspects of the species’ status and ecology in Venezuela. Ecological and behavioral investigations are underway in Venezuela (Thorbjarnarson, pers. comm.). The Orinoco crocodile is one of the most endangered New World crocodilians. Commercial overexploitation from the 1930s through the 1960s decimated wild populations and little recovery has been evident since that time. Medem (1974, 1976) surveyed the Colombian llanos in 1974 and 1976, and found evidence of only 280 adult crocodiles throughout a large part of the drainages of the Arauca, Casanare, Meta and Vichada rivers.
