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ferine hombre were killing and eat babe crocodiles in Cuba , unexampled evidence indicate .
That ’s disturbing because the Cuban crocodile ( Crocodylus rhombifer ) is acritically queer speciesthat lives only in Cuba’sZapata and Lanier swamp .
New research suggests that feral cats ate critically endangered Cuban crocodiles in 2022.
Several characteristics distinguish the Cuban crocodile from other New World crocodile species , including bony ridges behind the eyes ; an remarkably rummy , strong-growing temperament ; and the ability to leap high up out of the water , according toGeorge Amato , theater director emeritus of the American Museum of Natural History ’s Institute for Comparative Genomics and an expert on Cuban crocodile .
The Cuban crocodile represents " a very quondam evolutionary lineage " and plays an important role in its native ecosystem , Amato told Live Science . He has been knead with the coinage since the 1990s .
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Scientists found the severed heads of three baby crocodiles in 2022, and several lines of evidence suggested that feral cats were to blame for the predation.
Only around 3,000 Cuban crocodiles are judge toremain in the wild , so humans are trying to increase the universe . Every year , the Zapata Swamp Crocodile Breeding Farm , the world ’s largest Cuban crocodile gentility process , resign some 500 Cuban crocs into the swampland , in the hopes that they ’ll boom and reproduce , Etiam Pérez - Fleitas , a life scientist who ’s affiliated with the farm , tell Live Science in an electronic mail .
From October to November 2022 , the farm , which Pérez - Fleitas said manages around 4,500 Cuban crocodiles today , suffered a serial of predatory attacks that killed 145 4 - month - onetime crocs , according to an clause bring out online April 19 in the journalHerpetology note . In the clause , co - authors Pérez - Fleitas and Gustavo Sosa - Rodriguez described evidence that feralcatswere responsible for the attacks .
" I would say this is the first meter that I ’m aware of that there is a suggestion that feral cat might be a job for crocodilian reptile , " tell Amato , who was not postulate with the new enquiry .
Camera traps captured a feral cat entering the crocodiles pens.
The clues that cats were responsible include suspect markings and pelt recovered in the vicinity . Camera maw also recorded at least one cat enter the crocodile pens . And on one occasion , farm staff witness several cats flow on something nearby . When they went to enquire , they found " sherd of crocodile , " according to the article . What ’s more , the attacks check a calendar month after seven feral cats were capture and removed from the area .
“ We did not get evidence of other predators present in these enclosures , ” Pérez - Fleitas read .
Both Amato and Pérez - Fleitas distinguish Live Science they do not believe feral cat stand for an existential terror to the Cuban crocodile , with Amato citing the artificial conditions under which the attacks fall out . After all , he pointed out , youngcrocodilesare not penned in turgid numbers in enclosed sphere in the wild as they are on the farm .
Instead , Amato said , the findings underscore that free - roaming cats can work havoc on environments into which they are inclose .
" Feral hombre clearly have a meaning impact on wild population — more so than I believe people thought , " Amato said . " And it ’s not even just feral cats . It ’s pet cats that , you make out , also are out-of-door . "
Ranked No . 38 on alist of 100 of the " world ’s worst encroaching exotic specie , " free - roaming catsare calculate to kill billionsof fowl and mammal in the United States every year and have been implicate ina number of extinctions worldwide . In answer to the resulting price to native ecosystem , some organizations and governments have take in controversial extenuation measures , includingtrapping , shooting and poisoning .
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In light of the flak , Pérez - Fleitas said he and his colleagues are " monitoring areas where Cuban crocodile population live to approximate the size of the feral cat universe , if they exist in those locations . "
If the populations are small enough , sterilizing the male cats may be sufficient to protect the crocodile , Pérez - Fleitas said .
However , " In places where populations were abundant , " he added , " unfortunately our recommendation will be to use lethal methods to reduce their effective size and then sterilise . "
