Saltwater crocodiles are slowly returning to Bali and Java. Can we learn to live alongside them?

Subject: Geography

Section: Species in news

Context:

A three-metre saltwater crocodile was seen on the Legian Beach, one of Bali’s most popular spots. Another was seen in Lombok’s Awang Bay, Indonesia.

Saltwater crocodiles:

Saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylusporosus) are also known as estuarine crocodiles, as they prefer to live in mangrove-lined rivers, and native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India’s east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia.
They’re the largest living reptile, reaching up to seven metres in length– far larger than Indonesia’s famous Komodo dragon, which tops out at three metres.
These crocodiles are the most territorial of all crocodilians. Dominant males push out smaller male crocodiles, who set out in search of new habitat.
Worldwide, saltwater crocodiles are listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
There is a full population recovery in parts of northern Australia.
In Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam the species is extinct.

Saltwater crocodile in Indonesia:

Historically found throughout Indonesia.
Killed off in Bali, Lombok, and Java. But survived in remote parts of Indonesia.
They emerge again on the island of Java, Bangka-Belitung islands off Sumatra and the provinces of East Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara and Riau.
For Bali and Lombok, crocodiles are likely migrating from the islands to the east, such as Flores, Lembata, Sumba and Timor.

Source: DownToEarth