Population status of Caiman latirostris in the Managed nature reserve El Fisco

LARRIERA, ALEJANDRO; PIÑA, CARLOS; CIOCAN, HERNÁN

Skukuza

Congreso; 24th Working Meeting of the Crocodile Specialist Group; 2016

Crocodile Specialist Group - IUCN

Inside ?El Fisco? reserve (S 30 ° 15W 60 ° 55 ´) located in San Cristobaldepartment, northwest of Santa Fe province ? Argentina, nests have been harvestedfor the sustainable use program "Proyecto Yacaré", since 1992. Formany years, the effectiveness of reintroduction of young crocodilians to wildpopulation from ranching programs has been questioned, arguing that individualsbred in captivity and released in the wild could not survive, possibly as aresult of having to learn to hunt for food and having to adapt to a newenvironment. However, not only survival but also the reproduction of individualswho were released by Proyecto Yacaré had been confirmed. This work is a previewof an ongoing research, entitled "Dynamic Population of released and wild Caiman latirostris in El Fisco". Weanalyzed data recorded using night counts during 2015, in months before nest eclosion(October to February). From these data, preliminary results are presented,obtained by two methods. On one hand, the population size was analyzed by themethod of Messel et al. (1981), which showed an estimate between 357 and 406animals. Furthermore, the method of Maximum Value (King and Messel in Cerrato,1991) was used, and it was obtained a result of 497 animals. Historical recordsfor 1992 recorded an estimate of less than 1 ind / km population density, thenincreased to 10 ind / km in 1996 and according to our current study the densitywould be 41 ind / km. After over 20 years of the management program in thereserve, can be observe an increase in the population of C. latirostris occurred, demonstrating its sustainability.