www.crocfiles.co.uk/history

If any creature is capable of provoking a range of emotions, it is the crocodile. Crocodiles have earned a place in human legend. What is the highly regarded animal described by Herodotus? None other than the Nile crocodile, worshipped by the ancient Egyptians in great temples erected to honor one of the most powerful and influential of all Egyptian deities, the crocodile god Sobek. After being on the planet for 240 million years, perhaps crocodiles demand our respect. To many ancient cultures, from the Egyptian's and Mayan's to the aboriginals of Australia and New Guinea, crocodiles represented the power and virility of nature. Yet to others, crocodiles were all that was terrible about nature, Becoming nothing more than a dangerous nuisance to be eliminated. In the last few hundred years this latter view has prevailed. Several species almost went extinct in the third quarter of the 20th century.

But today, crocodiles are getting a new lease on life. Dozens of dedicated researchers and conservationists have devoted their lives to saving these magnificent and enduring animals, one such person is the famous crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin. But, how does one conserve a creature despised by so many? With stories like those told by William Bartram in their minds, early European travellers to Australia encountered saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) for the first time in the early 1800's. Their poor understanding, disgust and fear of these "creatures" was quite apparent from their writing. Diaries were filled with overblown tales and fanciful drawings of rampaging man-eaters, several travellers lost or heard of the loss of crewmen, perhaps dragged overboard in the night.

Crocodiles possess armour like skin, hard and ossified on the back for protection and support, yet soft, streamlined and flexible on the sides and belly, crocodiles skin has been in use around the world for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians used it, the Romans used it, and native people from Africa, the Americas and Asia used it. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, skin became fashionable as well as functional. After World War II, demand for crocodile skin skyrocketed. Hunters in Australia were all too happy to relieve the reviled saltwater crocodiles of their profitable skin, and uncontrolled harvests reduced wild populations dramatically. To most, the only good crocodile was a dead one. The majority of crocodile's species around the world witnessed similar declines. So what changed?

By the late 1960's, increasingly vocal groups of scientists and even former hunters advocated harvest restrictions before it was too late. They succeeded, with protection granted to crocodiles in northern Australia in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Still, their status was precarious, and many predicted an inevitable slide toward extinction. Doom and gloom prevailed, and several crocodile populations around the world faced similar problems. This was highlighted by the establishment of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in 1973 a convention to control international trade in endangered species. A third of the world's crocodile species were listed on CITES Appendix I (the highest level of protection) due to their extinction risk. But crocodiles were not so easily defeated. Once protected, with plenty of good nesting habitat remaining, saltwater crocodiles in Northern Australia were able to recover. An ambitious monitoring program in the Northern Territory documented this recovery firsthand. And what a recovery! In 1971, there were an estimated 3,000 crocodiles left in the Northern Territory. Only nine years later, this had expanded to 20,000, and stood closer to 35,000 by 1985!