Orinoco crocodile  (Crocodylus intermedius)

The Orinoco crocodile was hunted to the brink of extinction for its skin during the 1930s to 60s and the population has shown little signs of recovery since (4), although reintroduction programs are underway. Crocodiles could be found in large numbers around small water areas during the dry season, which made them easy targets for hunters (2). Today there are an estimated 250 to 1,500 individuals left in the wild (2). Illegal hunting for meat and for teeth (which are thought to have medicinal properties), along with the collection of eggs and juveniles remains the major threat to this species (2). Further threats are posed from continued habitat destruction, killing by local people, and from competition with the spectacle caiman (Caiman crocodilus), which is found in the same area (2).

Orinoco crocodiles are one of the most highly endangered of all crocodilians due to the small size and highly fragmented nature of their population (2). International trade in this species is banned under Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CTIES) (3), and it is protected throughout much of its range (4). These protection measures however, are largely ineffective and unforced and illegal poaching remains the principal threat to this species (2). In Colombia very little is known about the current status of the species and this remains a high priority for any conservation action plan (4). In Venezuela a reintroduction/ restocking plan has been developed and captive breeding is carried out at a number of sites (4). Effective monitoring of released crocodiles is required and protection measures need to be properly enforced, in order to help this species recover from such crippling over-exploitation in the past (4).