“The reason they are hunted almost to extinction in the wild is that their skin is soft enough to produce crocodile skin products,” Mansour Heidari said.
These crocodiles, which grow to be nearly 10 feet long, are native to Sistan va Baluchestan province in the far southeast. Measures such as the creation of a crocodile nursery in Chabahar are being proposed to prevent the Persian crocodile from becoming extinct. Eggs are collected from the wild and relocated to the farm.
“The hatchlings will be released into the wild once they are two years old. The aim of the proposed breeding program is to increase the number of mature animals in the wild so that they would no longer face extinction,” Heidari said.
Experts believe there are only 200 to 300 Persian crocodiles living in the wild, reported PressTV. They traditionally live in lakes, rivers and marshes but some have adapted to also living in reservoirs and irrigation canals.
Beyond Iran, Persian crocodiles can also be found in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.