The last-ditch race to save the Orinoco crocodile

Fewer than 100 Orinoco crocodiles - one of the largest living reptiles in the world - remain in the wild, according to Venezuelan conservation foundation Fudeci
Years of poaching for leather pushed the Orinoco to the brink, and now struggling Venezuelans - who hunt the animals for meat and take their eggs for food – threaten to deal the final blow
Biologist Carlos Alvarado holds down a young crocodile to track its growth a few days before its release into the wild
Omar Hernandez, head of Fudeci, tags the tiny foot of a hatchling at the Leslie Pantin zoo in Turmero, Aragua state
A hatchling is weighed before its release
The young crocodiles are placed in crates and driven to the release site at the Capanaparo River, near Elorza, in Apure state
Alvaro Velasco, president of the group, prepares a crocodile hatchling for release
The scientists log the sites where the long-snouted Orinoco are known to nest, collecting their eggs or hatchlings. They also breed captive adults kept at the zoo and at Masaguaral ranch
An aerial view of 203 Orinoco crocodile hatchlings ready for release
The crocodile's natural habitat is the Orinoco river basin, straddling Venezuela and Colombia Photograph: Gaby Oráa/Reuters
The young animals are placed in crates, their jaws bound, for the journey from the zoo to the river, deep in western Venezuela not far from the Colombian border
The release site has few human habitations and part of the river passes through private land, reducing the likelihood that the animals will immediately be hunted
The members of the Crocodile Specialist Group are not getting any younger - and the next generation of biologists has mostly fled the turmoil in Venezuela for jobs elsewhere
Alvarado remains alone to take up the baton. It is, he says, 'a great responsibility'. He is trying to persuade university students to take part in the conservation effort
The crocodile captive breeding centre at Hato Masaguaral ranch, near Tamarindito
Picopando, a 70-year-old Orinoco that resides at Masaguaral ranch. Adult male Orinocos can grow to weigh 840lb (380kg) and can measure over 16ft (5m) long Photograph: Gaby Oráa/Reuters
A museum at the Masaguaral ranch with information about the critically endangered species Photograph: Gaby Oráa/Reuters
Federico Pantin, director of the Leslie Pantin zoo, looks for Orinoco eggs in a hatching area
Hernandez says to save the species, a number of efforts would be necessary. 'We are doing the management, collecting the hatchlings, raising them for a year and freeing them,' he says. But 'that is practically the only thing being done. And it is not being done at scale.'
The scientists raise the babies, feeding them a diet of chicken, beef and vitamins until they are about a year old and grow to a weight of around 6kg (13lb)
The biologists wait until they are a year old to protect them during the most critical period in their life when almost all are hunted
Crocodile skins are made up of scales that are raised on the back, protecting the animals in fights with other crocodiles. Scales on the belly are flatter, with a smoother texture, it is this part of the crocodile that is traditionally used in the leather industry
Velasco shows off his tattoo of an Orinoco crocodile on his shoulder. 'People ask me, 'Why crocodiles? They're ugly.' To me, they're fabulous animals. You release them and they stay there, looking at you, as if to say 'What am I supposed to do in this huge river?' And then they swim off.'
The juveniles slide into the muddy, greenish waters while the experts watch and hope they survive Photograph: Gaby Oráa/Reuters
'Maybe many of these animals are going to be killed tomorrow or the day after tomorrow because of a lack of awareness among people and of course because of hunger,' said Hernandez
Despite their efforts, Hernandez believes that ultimately the Orinoco crocodile is doomed. 'We're stubborn. It's a way of delaying extinction and it's something that is in our capacity to do. If we waited for the perfect circumstances, they would never come.'

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