Looks like we have to hold the press on one of our OUT OF STOCK designs. The Siamese crocodile, thought extinct twenty years ago, appears to be alive and healthy for the time being. In 2000, after no trace of the animal had been found for two decades, a few dozen were found in south-west Cambodia.
The question was: were these actual pure-breeds? Or hybrids? Testing results performed on 69 of the animals showed that 35 were pure-breeds, which means the species has a good chance to make it back to strong numbers.
The Siamese crocodile originally ranged all through South-east Asia, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. But, like much of our wildlife, poachers hunted them to near extinction. The Siamese crocodile was prized because its skin is much softer than other crocodiles, and its hide was used for purses, belts, boots, whatever. Between the poaching and habitat loss the animal was considered lost forever.
Today there are approximately 250 Siamese crocodiles left in the wild. This makes it one of the rarest crocodiles in the world. Hopefully that number will grow.
In the meantime, we’ll move the animal from an OUT OF STOCK t-shirt to a LOW ON STOCK t-shirt.
