Philippine Crocodile

The Philippine crocodile is a small freshwater crocodile found only in the Philippines. It has a relatively broad snout and heavy bony plates on the back. Young animals are golden brown and darken as they mature. Adults rarely exceed 2.7m in length and females are slightly smaller than males. It is also called the Mindoro crocodile, and in most lowland Filipino cultures a crocodile is a buwaya; in northern Luzon it is known as the bukarot (Wikipedia, general species account).

Wild animals now live in a few isolated places, including the Northern Sierra Madre of Luzon, San Mariano in Isabela, Dalupiri Island, Abra, the Ligawasan Marsh and Lake Sebu, and it has disappeared from Samar, Jolo, Negros, Masbate and Busuanga. In northeast Luzon a community-based project works so people and crocodiles can share the same wetlands, and conservation breeding and release programmes run elsewhere. The species was thought lost from northern Luzon until a live one was caught at San Mariano in 1999. It has been protected by the Wildlife Act (Republic Act 9147) since 2001, and killing is the main cause of its decline. Wild sightings are very unlikely for visitors (Wikipedia, citing published sources).