Blind-Croc Mystery | National Geographic

we got
I’ve experienced their power and their
bite
but it did in my share it’s hard to
believe anything other than humans can
threaten them but the American Crocs of
Costa Rica are facing a new danger some
of them may be going blind
a normal croc eye is clear but this eye
is dark and cloudy something’s wrong
for Crocs vision is key their eyes are
perfectly adapted to their environment
Crocs eyes are effective during the day
and at night and above and below the
water but something is damaging these
Crocs eyes and our goal is to identify
the culprit my destination is the tar
colace River in western Costa Rica this
is where the eye problems seem to be the
most acute I’ve assembled an expert team
of scientists that help me solve the
mystery my good friend in croc expert
Juan bolaños alerted me to the eye
problem several years ago and since then
the number of Crocs with damaged eyes
has been growing
we don’t know what’s causing the problem
but we have some suspects toxic
contaminants or an infection possibly
caused by pathogens like bacteria or
viruses sections of the tar collage
River looked peaceful and unspoiled
but it’s sadly one of the most polluted
rivers in the Americas contaminants like
pesticides and metals found in many
rivers have been associated with
wildlife diseases around the globe
causing deformities and birds
malformations and frogs and tumors and
fish it’s possible contaminants in this
river like DDT or mercury may be
damaging these crocs eyes but infection
could be the other culprit runoff from
mini costa rican farms and towns flows
into the tar Colonus
bacteria and viruses thrive in polluted
rivers filled with human and animal
waste to find out what’s affecting the
Crocs eyes it’s gonna take hands-on
research
our team will examine the eyes and take
tissue samples to determine the
potential culprit