Increasing wild crocodiles populations thru in situ study of captive hatchlings

Paper details

This is a persuasive research summary. The reader of this paper must be convinced by the writing (and citations) that in situ (in the laboratory or in contained field enclosures) that Nile crocodiles and/or Porosus (salt water crocodiles) can be studied as hatchlings and juveniles and that data obtained during the study can be used in the crocodile ranching or farming setting which can assist or enable the farmer/rancher to reduce mortality and morbidity.
The goal is this: what can be learned, or what are the possibilities to be learned from the lab or field study that can aid the rancher to reduce mortality and morbidity.
Understand that mortality is ‘injury’ and morbidity is ‘death’. On ranches (ranches and farms are interchangeable words) they breed hundreds of thousands of crocodiles each year. The product is both the skin of the animal and the animals’ flesh for human consumption. A younger crocodile that gets into fights or gets injured has a ruined skin and thus the value is vastly depleted. The skin must be perfect.
Also, please understand the end game and put it in perspective (although you are not arguing this particular point): in some locales Nile crocodiles (from Africa) are considered endangered and in other areas considered threatened. In Africa this is delineated by countries. Most African countries that have ranching have eased up on the listing of the Niles and downgraded them to threatened. If you need clarity on this simply Google Nile crocodile + CITES. With regards to porosus (Salt water crocodile or Estuarine crocodile) there are also ranching nations in Indonesia and also in Australia. The ranching nations classify the porosus as threatened.
Many of these ranching nations in both Africa and Australia/Indonesia require ranchers to release into the wild (back into nature) a percentage of the hatchlings. This ‘give-back’ is exactly how these ranchers were first allowed to breed captured wild crocodiles in the first place. The ranchers offered to release a portion of the offspring back into the wild, thus the ranch could justify the breeding and slaughter and marketing of an otherwise endangered animal. Just as a point of reference for you: some nations require of every five live hatchlings, two (2) are reserved to be released into the wild. In reality what the ranches have accomplished is this: They have brought two species (Nile and Porosus) back from the brink of extinction by breeding them in a ranch setting and producing a large crop that is released to nature. And in fact: It has worked. These countries (with ranches) have taken the independent species and aided a full-scale come back of the species in the wild.
This persuasive research summary is about what might a researcher learn by studying them (the crocodiles, either one; Nile or porosus) that can be brought to the rancher and the data will enhance the propagation within the ranch setting; thus: increasing the wild population by increasing the number hatched in the ranch.
Personally I think one area is lessening aggression within each breeding. By each breeding I mean these animals breed on a cycle. All of the eggs from all of the females hatch during the same week. All of the hatchling are then mixed together in ponds. But even at a day or so old, they form hierarchies and several will bully litter mates and other similarly sized ones, often maiming them and killing them. Obvious here that a maimed one (mortality) is useless to the rancher because the skin is damaged and the injured one (there are thousands mixed together so there are many dozens that get injured, maimed or killed) will often simply die or obtain an immune disease and infect the others. So the ranchers cull them. If the ratio in a nation is 3 of every ten live ones are scheduled to be released, and thirty percent are culled because of injury due to aggression, in-fighting, fighting for resources (the food bin or limited sunny basking areas in the pond) then that means there is 30% LESS of the aggregate to release into the wild.
Persuade me that there is some way to first study aggression and then make a hypothesis on how to mitigate or limit it. Even if it is only partially doable, the rancher wants ‘something’ that will help reduce mortality and morbidity.
There are two studies I am aware of that deal with aggression both are by a researcher named Brien http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24960026
And http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24349018.
There are a number of other short journal articles.
You need to make a very convincing argument that a researcher with a group of hatchlings who studies them, watches or even interacts can glean some piece of data that might be useful to the rancher to reduce the mortality.
And just so you are clear: this is not an academic work. It is a work which will be integrated into a packet for a government agency which licenses researcher who want to study crocodiles in situ or in a contained outdoor lab.
There is no wrong answer on this. What it must be is a credible science-based concept that might work. You are not looking to see if ‘it’s been done before’, you are structuring a new idea. By the way, no one has actively worked with hatchlings beyond a one week period, meaning, there is no longer or longitudinal study , by example, taking a dozen Nile or porosus hatchlings and identifying the aggression markers and then confounding for them to see if the aggression can be reduced.
Here is an idea: If you had 20 hatchlings in a large tub (3 meters square) and you noticed that the fight tends to be at the food tray. Would making four smaller food trays and putting one in each corner, drive the cluster of hatchlings apart and with less competition for the food, you might notice less fighting? It is too easy to simply say: ‘remove the nasty buggers’, but remove them to where? The rancher does not want a pond full of the nasty ones, that will just be a blood bath.
An idea: Do you know what American chicken farmers do to reduce mortality amongst the flocks (they are in very confined areas)? They insert these cheap contact lenses in each bird and it blurs their vision and thus: they do not attack each other. The lenses cost a fraction of a penny each and the mortality drops significantly. Would overfeeding the aggressive ones lessen the aggression or would that only make larger/healthy aggressors?
Reviewing all the available literature: persuade me that in studying a group of same aged hatchlings that an intervention can be created to bring the entire group to market (and not have six culls in 20 due to aggression.
You can freely use examples from other animal orders but do not go much higher than simple avian examples (you cannot export canine or equine concepts downward to crocodilians.

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT 🙂