American Crocodile Education Sanctuary

“We were able to identify the Cuban Crocodile, but the American Crocodiles we were sampling, which were from the Caribbean — specifically the Greater Antilles — didn’t actually look like American Crocodiles,” Weaver said. Although the size and shape of the crocodiles were similar, studies found they may not have been the same species, he said. “The morphology did (show similarities),” Weaver said, “but the genetics suggested they were more closely related to Cuban Crocodiles, but that they were also distinct. That’s what led us to ask, ‘Is there an ancient hybridization event happening? Is the American Crocodile in the Greater Antilles the result of this interbreeding that appears to have happened 500,000 to 1,000,000 years ago?’”

WHAT DOES THE MEAN?  Recent population surveys of American crocodiles conducted in Cuba was putting American crocodile numbers on the rise. Now? If these crocs are not 'true' American crocodiles, Crocodylus acutus, but a new species, then American crocodiles are even less in numbers Worldwide and in serious threat of extinction.

Click here to Read the full Article