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.
READ THE STORY: www.globalheroes.com/cuban-crocodile-endangered-species/
PHOTO: A newly-hatched Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) emerges from an egg at a hatchery at Zapata Swamp, Cienaga de Zapata, Cuba © REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
