Watch Scientists Catch Crocodiles—in the Dark | National Geographic

The morti crocodile. They're powerful, they're prehistoric, yet their biosphere is very delicate. Teaching locals and teaching tourists about this type of crocodile is very important for projects of conservation that Amigo Deanan is spearheading and for ecotourism in Quintana Roo as a whole. Amigo Sanan has been monitoring the crocodile population in Sanan for the last 25 years.

If we understand what's going on with crocodiles, we can understand a little bit of what's going on with the ecosystem. We will try to catch the animal either by hand or with a noose, depending on the position of the animal, the size of the animal.

Very similar to how the crocodiles call each other, sometimes when you do that, the large crocodiles respond. Sometimes even the hatchlings, the babies start screaming. Also, there was a medium crocodile here in the middle of the mangrove, so I did a desperate attempt to catch it, so I jumped into the water.

Is it frustrating? Well, you know, it would be better to catch it a little bit. Yes, sometimes you catch it half an hour after you start, sometimes it takes longer. A lot of what I've learned about crocodiles here in the field I've learned from people who used to hunt crocodiles in the past and then decided not to hunt anymore and then became the captains of the boats that work for conserving crocodiles.

So now, we have this more or less crocodile. It's a relatively young animal, and why we know it is a Morelet crocodile? We know that because of the shape of the snout. The American crocodile has a longer and thinner snout, while this has a shorter and wider snout.

For me, it is very important to teach young experts in conservation about what I learned here in the field about crocodiles because when we talk about conservation, we are talking about sustainability. With the help of Amigos Sanan and local stakeholders buying into this project, them realizing that crocodiles are not just a source of income, but it's a part of their legacy, it's a part of their culture.

It's the responsibility of the younger generations, the Mayan culture, and the people from abroad that have made this their home. It's their responsibility to maintain it for future generations.

Over the years, we have set up over 300 cameras. These cameras have generated over 2,500 photographs of jaguars under prey. Right now, we have probably 37 to 42 jaguars documented in the region, and we have new ones coming also.