Researchers are collecting DNA from crocodiles in Timor Leste after a rapid increase in population, to determine if Australian species are found in the area.
Professor Sam Banks from Charles Darwin University says, “because [in Australia] we’ve had such a successful crocodile conservation management program, we are now effectively pumping out crocodile migrants that are going and settling in countries around Australia.”
The team plans to analyse the skin samples from East Timor, and cross-check them against a DNA database of 700 crocodiles from Northern Australia.