A Night for the Crocs

Adult Tomistoma, Photo (c) Soham Mukherjee

I should have posted about this earlier, but recent events have made the last few weeks a little hectic. This Saturday 16 February an event called "A Night for the Crocs" is being held at Zoo Miami in Florida.

There are all kinds of activities for kids and adults alike, and best of all the proceeds for the event will be used by the Tomistoma Task Force of the IUCN Crocodile Specialist Group for direct action to conserve the endangered Tomistoma (false gharial) and its peat swamp forest habitats in Malaysia and Indonesia.

I won't duplicate any more information from their website, so go and check it out here. Sounds like a lot of fun for a good cause, and you can't argue with that!

So long, Lolong

Sadly, Lolong the record-breaking 6.17 m saltwater crocodile caught in the Philippines in September 2011 died last night around 8 pm local time. There's a lot of speculation about the cause of death, but until a necropsy has been completed, we won't actually know what killed him. Ronnie Sumillar, the local expert who led the capture effort, is conducting the necropsy. I'm sure this is not what he wanted to be doing today.

I'll write a more detailed post when more has been confirmed.