TRIBUNE-REVIEW (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 08 June 06 Rare crocodiles are at home in 'Burgh (Allison M. Heinrichs)
The creamy, yellow Philippine crocodile with jet black stripes wasn't being nice.
With a twist of its powerful neck, the three-foot croc made its move and snapped shut its 66 razor-sharp teeth, narrowly missing the intended target -- Ray Bamrick's left arm.
It didn't bother Bamrick, the reptile handler and "croc man" at Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. An occasional trip to the emergency room for stitches is a price he is willing to pay to hold one of the world's most-endangered animals.
"I've worked in every area of the zoo," Bamrick said. "Crocodiles were always my favorite. They've been doing the right thing for 200 million years -- they're tough, they're mean. You've got to respect them."
The species of crocodiles -- only about 500 adults exist -- is found in the wild only in the Philippines, which strictly regulates the aquatic reptile's export and breeding. The Pittsburgh zoo is one of a few sites worldwide allowed by the Philippines government to keep and eventually breed the crocs.
Bamrick almost has completed a temporary home for the zoo's four juvenile crocs while the reptile house is being rebuilt.
Development, pollution, poaching and extermination by humans have dwindled the Philippine crocs' numbers. The Switzerland-based World Conservation Union, the world's largest conservation network, lists them as the world's most-threatened crocodile species.
When allowing zoos to house and breed the crocs, the Philippines requires a payment for habitat conservation; its permission to breed the reptiles; and a mention of its government in any publication about the animals.
"They want to make sure that you don't steal any of their information. Everybody agrees to help them with conservation programs -- and that means money," said Colette Adams, herpetology curator at Gladys Porter Zoo, the first U.S. zoo to house the crocs.
The crocs now can be found at seven U.S. zoos, including Pittsburgh's. All of them were bred in Brownsville, Texas, at Gladys Porter Zoo, which has hatched about 100 crocs from a female that it acquired from the Philippines nearly two decades ago.
Until the Pittsburgh Zoo completes its new reptile exhibit -- in about five years -- the crocs will live in a nondisplay warehouse at the back of the Highland Park zoo. In coming weeks, the crocs will be moved into four separate enclosures -- each with its own two-tiered beach and private pond. The reptiles are very territorial and cannot share a space because they might kill one another, Bamrick said.
The gender of the reptiles has not yet been determined because their sex organs are internal. The crocs should be big enough to breed when they go on public display, at which time their gender will become known, Bamrick said.
Less than a foot long when the zoo acquired them in 2003, the crocodiles' "growth diet" of mice, fish and birds has bulked them up to about 3 feet long and 15 pounds. They should grow to almost 8 feet long and 200 pounds.
Because of its agreement with the Philippine government, the zoo must allow Filipinos visiting or living in Pittsburgh to see the crocs at any time - even at 2 a.m. Until the reptile exhibit opens, that means Bamrick would have to take Filipinos on a special tour of the crocodiles' temporary home.
"I won't check your passport or anything, though," Bamrick said. "I just like showing them off."
Rare crocodiles are at home in 'Burgh