Saving the Siamese crocodile: Cambodia moves to protect one of the world’s last wild populations

A Siamese crocodile hatched at a breeding facility in Phnom Tamao, Cambodia, as part of a project to boost numbers in the wild. Photograph: Jeremy Holden/Fauna & Flora International

In the 1990s, conservationists in Cambodia feared the Siamese crocodile had disappeared for good. Fishing and hunting had devastated the species throughout the 20th century, leaving populations across its native south-east Asia on the brink of extinction.

But in villages dotted among the wetlands of the remote Cardamom mountains, Indigenous Chorng communities still reported seeing them. Passing this knowledge to researchers surveying the area in 2000 led to an official recording of the species – and bolstered the mission to revive the population.