Siamese Crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis)
IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered CITES Appendix I
Only remaining large wild populations
The Mekong River basin and wetlands in Cambodia appear to have the only remaining large wild populations left in the world.
Even these are seriously fragmented and depleted though.
Hunting, disturbance, alteration
Wild crocodiles are diminishing in number because of hunting, human disturbance and habitat alteration. They are now restricted to inaccessible swamps and river stretches in the remoter parts of the country. In the Lower Mekong Dry Forests Ecoregion, they have been recorded by local hunters in the upper reaches of the Mekong, and on some of its tributaries.
Farmed extensively
Although, its population is almost depleted in the wild, Siamese Crocodiles are farmed extensively in Thailand and Cambodia and are relatively unthreatening to people.
Crocodile conservation benefits
Crocodile conservation worldwide has benefited from actively promoting a well-managed and regulated captive industry, linked to conservation activities for populations in the wild.
There is hope that, if the necessary actions can be implemented, including the involvement of the commercial captive industry, the Siamese crocodile might have a chance of survival in the wild again.
