Sexual Maturity of Farm-Released Caiman latirostris (Crocodylia: Alligatoridae) in the Wild

ALEJANDRO LARRIERA, PABLO SIROSKI CARLOS I. PIÑA AND ALBA IMHOF

HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW

Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles

Lugar: Salt Lake city, Utah, USA; Año: 2006 vol. 37 p. 26 - 28

0018-084X

One strategy to enhance small populations of crocodilians is to release captive-reared individuals into to the wild. Low survivorship would result in very poor recruitment of captive-reared animals as compared to wild crocodilians. Obviously, sexual maturity is an important variable in population dynamics and is useful datum for conservation programs, such as Proyecto Yacaré (MAGIC/MUPCN), that a are attempting to facilitate the recovery of crocodilian populations. Since 1990, Proyecto Yacaré (Caiman Project), has been working to enhance the wild population of C. latirostris in Santa Fe province, Argentina. Our results indicate that releasing yearling Caiman latirostris can successfully provide a source of recruitment of breeders to the wild populations. If maturity is related to growth rate then the farm-released animals would more quickly become breeding stock in the wild population than wild animals.