About

Object Number: Ad5636

Collection: Biology

This is the skull of a crocodile, a species that were once populous in the delta region of Burma. During the colonial period, the British encouraged the extermination of crocodiles because they threatened the lives of humans and cattle working to grow rice. Their numbers also fell because their habitat changed from mangrove forest to paddy fields, resulting in a loss of bio-diversity. This skull was presented by colonial official and natural historian William Theobald who collected many examples of Burma’s reptile species for the Asiatic Museum in Calcutta during the late-nineteenth-century.