A group of Orinoco crocodile hatchlings are released into the wild at the Capanaparo River, in a remote corner of Venezuela. For decades, the Crocodile Specialist Group have been raising younglings of the critically endangered species in captivity in a race against time to avoid its extinction, as fewer than 100 Orinoco crocodiles remain in the wild. Decades of poaching for leather has pushed the species to the brink, and now struggling Venezuelans who hunt the animals for meat and take their eggs for food threaten to deal the final blow
Photograph: Gaby Oráa/Reuters