ENVIRONMENT-VENEZUELA:
Swim, Alligator, Swim!

Yensi Rivero


AGUARO-GUARIQUITO PARK, Venezuela, (IPS) - Anxious and quite skittish, 208 endangered caimans dove for the first time into the waters of the Aguaro River, a waterway that Jules Verne described as the "arrogant Orinoco", and flows through the Venezuelan central plains.

Grunting and breathing heavily the air heated by the tropical midday sun, advancing with brusque movements, the indomitable caimans of the Orinoco river valley (Crocodylus intermedius) quickly took to their watery habitat.

It was the end of May and the final day of programme for raising these green dinosaur-like creatures in captivity, releasing them as they reached their one-year birthday.

The crocodilians ("caiman" is Spanish for alligator) measured about one metre long and weighed around one kilo as they found freedom in the Aguaro-Guariquito National Park, an area covering 600,000 hectares, located 400 km south of Caracas.

"The release takes place here because, being a protected area, there is greater monitoring and control of the caimans," said Omar Hernández, an expert from the state-run Ezequiel Zamora University and in charge of the young gators raised in private nurseries.

The programme began in the early 1990s. Since then almost 4,000 young caimans have been released in different areas of their natural habitat, including the Aguaro, Capanaparo, Cinaruco, Cojedes, Manapire, Mocapra, Tucupido and Orinoco rivers.

The appearance of an adult Orinoco alligator, which can grow to almost five metres long and weigh up to 300 kg, stands in sharp contrast to its vulnerability to hunting by humans, which have pushed the species to the verge of extinction.

"A trapped caiman is an eaten caiman," Hernández told IPS. The fisherfolk in the region "fish using nets, and they take anything that happens to fall into them, including young caimans," he said.

"On top of that is the fact that natural depredation of the species is 99 percent, because foxes, birds of prey and herons, fish and other reptiles eat the caiman eggs and newborns, the latter measuring 12 to 15 cm long," said the expert.

Although they are perceived as ferocious, there are plenty of people who admit they have "fallen in love with the little caimans and with this task of releasing them," says Raúl, a technician with the National Parks Institute who helped carry the containers of small reptiles to the river's edge.

"This is the first time I've done this. I'm new at it, but now I think I'll keep at it. It's a shame that they get eaten," he added.

Despite maintaining an air of solemnity, some of the caimans seemed to enjoy the refreshing baths that volunteers gave them prior to their release, pouring water over the rough, scaly skin.

"The populations of the caiman's relatives around the world have been on the decline since the 1970s," Eddys Solórzano, of the Environment Ministry's biodiversity division, told IPS.

Writings by German naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt indicate there were abundant populations of caimans in the early 19th century, when he explored this part of South America.

Then, in the 1920s, commercial exploitation of this reptile began, as demand grew in other countries for alligator skin to be used in new fashions. A decade later, an estimated 4,000 skins were sold per day.

Reports from environmental organisations indicate there are around 1,000 adult caimans existing today, distributed among small groups. The species is nearly extinct in neighbouring Colombia.

"In Venezuela, the main populations are found in the Cojedes and Capanaparo rivers, and there are an estimated 80 to 100 adult females in those two rivers. Each female produces 40 eggs per nest," and lays them once a year, Hernández said.

The challenge is to increase the species population. "We want to gather a greater number of caimans in order to accelerate the recovery," Hernández added.

Eggs are taken to the three nurseries involved in the project, which are also located in the plains. The caimans are raised in round tanks measuring two metres in diameter and with a capacity to hold 80 of the young reptiles.

"It would be ideal to have a little tank for each one, because they are natural predators and often attack each other," Ricardo Babarro, another Environment Ministry biodiversity expert, told IPS.

He and the other caiman experts agree that the space and financial limits make it difficult to keep up care for the caimans, especially since each tank costs 2,000 dollars in maintenance a year.

In its natural habitat, the Orinoco caiman feeds on fish. "When the species reaches adulthood, every two or three day it eats the equivalent to four percent of its body weight. When it is young, it eats the equivalent of eight percent of its weight each day," said Hernández.

While they are being raised in captivity, these Venezuelan caimans are fed mostly horsemeat, from animals put down because they have reached old age.

"I have seen how they release the caimans every year for the past six years. We should learn to respect the caimans because if we don't, they'll all die," Antonio Hernández, 56, a peasant farmer from a nearby town, told IPS.