One of the rarest crocodiles known to man, the Siamese crocodile, is crawling back from virtual extinction. Twenty eggs recently hatched in in Laos, a landlocked country in Southeast Asia near Burma. These eggs were found in a bed of lake reeds in June, and were carefully brought to the local zoo for protection.
They started hatching about a week ago and are progressing well in a shelter especially constructed for them. Habitat loss and hunting have had an increasing impact on the numbers of Siamese crocodiles and in 1992 they were declared extinct in the wild. Experts estimate as few as three hundred roam the swamps of the world, being easy prey due to their passivity. In about eighteen months these baby crocs will be old enough to fend for themselves and be released into the wild.
