Mongabay
On June 28, 2017, conservationists chanced upon a nest containing 19 eggs of the extremely rare Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) in the Sre Ambel District of Koh Kong Province in Cambodia. This was the first Siamese crocodile nest researchers had recorded in the Sre Ambel River System in six years of their work.
Worried that the nest might be destroyed by poachers or predators, the team collected the eggs and moved them to the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center (KKRCC), a recently-built reptile breeding and conservation center located in Mondul Seima District of Koh Kong Province. KKRCC — a joint endeavour between WCS and Cambodia’s Fisheries Administration (FiA) — hopes to help conserve rare and endangered reptiles like the Siamese crocodile and the critically endangered Royal turtles (Batagur affinis).
Nine of those Siamese crocodile eggs have now hatched at the center, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced yesterday.