Human dimensions of crocodilians: a review of the drivers of coexistence

ABSTRACT

Crocodilians are socially and ecological important apex predators. Yet, many societies struggle to share space with crocodilians, especially in urban and coastal regions. The literature provides fragmented insights into human-crocodilian coexistence and conflict across the urban-rural gradient. We conducted an exploratory review of the literature to identify trends in research and opportunities for researchers to unearth potential principles of human coexistence with crocodilian species within cognitive, spatial, and governance domains. Our results follow two lines of inquiry: (a) interactions in increasingly urbanizing areas, and (b) interactions in natural resource dependent rural communities. In both instances, our review revealed the influential role of cognitions in human defense of symbolic and material livelihoods and negotiating human-crocodilian interactions. Our findings also demonstrated that studies insufficiently attend to larger forces (e.g., rural-urban drift, land use change, societal adaptive capacity) influencing interactions. Understanding social-ecological connections between humans and apex predators are necessary to rethink coexistence.

KEYWORDS:

• Alligator
• carnivore
• crocodilian
• human-wildlife conflict
• human-natural system
• urbanization