Shirtless and waist-deep in the dark waters of Cuba's palm-speckled Zapata Swamp, researcher Etiam Perez releases a baby crocodile confiscated from illegal hunters back into the wild. It is a small victory, he says, in a bigger battle. Cuban crocs, an endemic species found only here and in a swamp on Cuba's Isle of Youth, are critically endangered and have the smallest natural habitat left of any living crocodile species, scientists say. Cuban crocodiles (Crocodylus rhombifer) swim at a hatchery at Zapata Swamp, Cienaga de Zapata, Cuba, August 24, 2022. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini "We are trying to bring them back from the edge of extinction," Perez told Reuters as the spotted reptile, mouth full of fine teeth, kicked its striped tail and disappeared. Illegal hunting and hybri...
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