Into the Cardamoms in search of the rare Cambodian Siamese crocodile.
Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:52 pm
Image: Physics.org
July 11 2019
by Paul Mcinerney,
For nine hours, my colleague Michael Shackleton and I held onto our scooters for dear life while being slapped in the face by spiked jungle plants in the mountains of Cambodia
"With our gear loaded up on nine scooters—200 metres of fishing nets, two inflatable kayaks, food for five days, hammocks, preservation gear for collection of DNA, and other assorted scientific instruments—we at last arrived at one of the few remaining sites known to harbour the critically endangered Siamese crocodiles."
"Kayaks were inflated, nets set, and sampling was underway. This proved laborious—to ensure crocodiles didn't drown, we couldn't leave nets unattended in the water overnight, but instead checked them every hour until morning."
"But the shrouded, mystical, extremely remote and virtually inaccessible jungle in the Cardamom Mountains has ensured we know next to nothing about fish communities within habitats set for the release of captive crocodile."
"We spent four days sampling fish communities and then repeated the process at two other equally remote locations within the Cardamoms, requiring two days travel between each. "
"We saw groups of gibbons moving through the forest and macaques climbing down from trees to drink at the river. But at last we spotted a wild Siamese crocodile after dark, swimming in our morning bathing pool, on our second-last day."
Full https://phys.org/news/2019-07-remote-ca ... amese.html