Google – AFP, 19 March 2014
The Hague — A very rare and endangered female crocodile has died of suffocation in a Dutch zoo during attempted mating with a "dominant" male partner, the zoo said on Wednesday.
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Undated
handout photo obtained on March 19, 2014 shows the Malaysian
false gharial
female crocodile which was killed during mating at a zoo
in Amsterdam
(Amsterdam Zoo/AFP, Ronald van Weeren)
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The Hague — A very rare and endangered female crocodile has died of suffocation in a Dutch zoo during attempted mating with a "dominant" male partner, the zoo said on Wednesday.
"In
the end she couldn't handle the dominant mating behaviour of the male
gavial," Amsterdam's Artis zoo said in a statement of the false gavial
(Tomistoma schlegelii) crocodile, introduced in October as part of a breeding
programme.
During
mating, the male false gavial holds the female down with his mouth "to
show his superiority", the zoo said, stressing that the female had
"accepted this behaviour".
"She
eventually died of suffocation," the zoo said, with multiple bites all
over her body, in particular around the neck.
There are
only an estimated 2,500 false gavial left in the world. The crocodile is native
to Malaysia, southern Myanmar and Indonesia's Borneo, Java and Sumatra.
The zoo had
for years had a male and female false gavial but they did not mate and so they
introduced another female, who died.
In the wild
male false gavials can mate with multiple females.
Only 10
zoos in Europe have a captive false gavial.
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