Are Florida’s invasive caimans on the way out?

Florida has grappled with a host of invasive species that thrive in the warm, moist climate. But one species may soon be on the way out. A team of biologists known as the “Croc Docs” have been working to eliminate the nonnative spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) from the state, and a recent study published in Management of Biological Invasions suggest its populations are declining.

The reptiles look like alligators (Alligator mississippiensis), but they are native to Central and South America. In the 1970s, the leather industry brought hundreds of thousands of them to Florida, the New York Times reports, but they often were sold as pets, and weary pet owners inevitably released them into the wild.

The Croc Docs say their captures have been declining—either because the caimans are getting savvier, or very possibly, because their numbers falling. 

“I do think this is a species we can successfully eradicate,” Joshua Friers, cultural and natural resources manager for Homestead Air Reserve Base, where the caimans have been particularly problematic, told the Times.

Read more from the New York Times.