‘Lead poisoning’ behind SA crocodiles losing teeth

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‘Lead poisoning’ behind SA crocodiles losing teeth

8:34 CAT | 26 May 2022

iSimangaliso Wetland Park is renowned for its large numbers of crocodiles

Researchers have found that lead poisoning is probably to blame for crocodiles in a lake at a World Heritage site in South Africa losing their teeth.

The study sampled blood and tail fat tissues from 25 Nile crocodiles in Lake St Lucia, which is within KwaZulu-Natal province’s iSimangaliso Wetland Park, recognised by Unesco for its natural beauty in 1999.

The paper, published online last week by scientific journal Chemosphere, said lead weights used in fishing were probably behind the exposure and needed “urgent attention”.

Marc Humpries, one of the report’s authors from the School of Chemistry at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, said the findings were startling considering the area’s World Heritage status.

“Crocodiles at Lake St Lucia have some of the highest blood lead concentrations ever recorded in wildlife globally,” he is quoted as saying by Bloomberg news agency.

Lead accumulates in bones, and makes the teeth of the affected crocodiles fragile.

The reptiles cannot replace lost teeth, Bloomberg reports.

Mr Humpries said that non-toxic alternatives to lead such as steel and tungsten should be explored by conservation authorities.

Source: BBC