Needle caimans released in La Guajira that will be monitored with telemetry equipment

The General Director of Corpoguajira, Samuel Lanao Robles, presided over the release of three needle alligators, in Dibulla, two of whom were implanted with a transmitter that will allow their permanent monitoring.

The activity is part of the project being carried out by the environmental authority, together with the UT Conservación Reptiles de La Guajira, to strengthen studies using telemetry equipment, in order to assess the state of conservation, density, demographic structure and to know the location, activity, displacement and habitat of these individuals.

“The electronic devices that these alligators have will allow us to gather information and strengthen decision-making in the strategies that are being developed in the area of wildlife conservation,” said Lanao Robles, who also invited citizens to join Corpoguajira to support the work of protection of wildlife, which has not only been affected by climate change but by human action.

“I extend this invitation in a cordial manner so that they are partners of the Corporation in the preservation of natural resources; I call on our friends fishermen not to take retaliation against these reptiles and remember that environmental sustainability is everyone's commitment,” Robles concluded.

To date, nine alligators have been marked, out of the ten included in the study. Data from electronic devices will be downloaded and analyzed on platforms such as Google Earth and Cvs.

In the areas of influence of the project, socialization and awareness days are held with local communities, which allow the re-inclusion of the species among the population as an important part of its social, cultural and economic development.

It should be noted that the needle alligator, a long-lived reptile that only inhabits mangroves, lagoons, swamps and rivers of South America, is a species threatened by hunting for its skin, the destruction of its habitat and the deterioration of mangroves.

The needle alligator, Magdalena Caiman or American Crocodile as Crocodylus acutus is commonly known, is one of the eleven species of crocodylides that inhabit America, and has the widest distribution throughout the continent, with reports of its existence in 18 countries.

According to information from the environmental authority Corpamag (Regional Autonomous Corporation of Magdalena), the needle alligator is also “one of the six species of crocodylides that inhabit the national territory, with a historical distribution covering coastal and island areas both in the Pacific and the Caribbean, including the inter- Andeans up to 700 meters above sea level”.

“Currently, the needle alligator is classified as “Vulnerable” within the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and as “Endangered” under the evaluation carried out in Colombia,” according to the environmental corporation.

For this reason, Corpamag warns that “it is necessary to generate a plan for the conservation, management and sustainable use of the needle caiman populations in the northeastern sector of the department of Magdalena, in order to define specific lines of action that allow the conservation of this threatened species, as well as its coexistence with human communities that live there”.

Thus, it has proposed plans that include protocols “for the prevention, attention and mitigation of conflicts between local communities and populations of Cayman Needle, stipulating the steps to be taken for the immediate reaction and attention to cases of conflict, which reduce the impacts caused to local communities, as well as allow the protection of this threatened species”.

According to the corporation, this protocol also proposes a dissemination strategy that facilitates the awareness of local inhabitants about these species of crocodylides, their biological and cultural importance, as well as the duties and rights that every citizen has to preserve and sustainably use their environment.

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