Oh Caimans, Oh Caimans.
Why are you so oft-treated as second-class crocodilians? Your messag board here has been empty for so long.
Is it because your Spectacled brethren are not very colorful and are the most common crocodlians in the world?
Is it because all of your kind, save one, remain small in size? Indeed, a C. latirostris emerging from the water onto the bank hardly strikes fear like a gargantuan C. porosus or C. niloticus doing the same...
Is it because you've been immersed in the American pet trade for so long, and are more readily available - that you've lost your cache'?
Well I say NAY!
Lift your heads high, dear saurians! You are a proud and noble race of reptiles. You live among the most diverse fauna and flora in the world, and you battle giant anacondas (Hey, come to Florida, where we can pit you against Pythons in the wild!)
[Wait, what am I saying?! You are already here! You've started a colony in Miami, right near the airport, as if mocking those huge, loud flying machines that originally carried you here, and you've even settled in Palm Beach, dodging the Bentleys and Rolls Royces.]
Take heart, caimans! The largest among you, Mr. Melanosuchus, is a large and handsome species, a worthy monarch in South America.
Stand tall (as tall as you can, anyway), caimans! You have represented your order on the front lines, being ogled in tanks in pet stores, and flushed down toilets in New York!
Oh Caimans, Oh Caimans.
Smile. We love you.
-----
Israel Dupont
Winter Haven, FL
