or meat. This species was classified as Endangered in the 1970s due to the high demand for its well-marked skin. The trade in black caiman leather peaked from the 1950s to 1970s, when the smaller but much more common spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) became the more commonly hunted species. Local people still trade black caiman skins and meat today at a small scale but the species has rebounded overall from the overhunting in the past. That black caimans lay, on average, around 40 eggs has helped them recover to some degree. Perhaps an equal continuing threat is habitat destruction, since development and clear-cutting is now epidemic in South America. Spectacled caimans have now filled the niche of crocodilian predator of fish in many areas. Due to their greater numbers and faster reproductive abilities, the Spectacled populations are locally outcompeting black caimans, although the larger species dominates in a one-on-one basis. Persistent management is needed to control caiman-hunting and is quite difficult to enforce effectively. After the depletion of the black caiman population, piranhas and capybaras, having lost perhaps their primary predator, reached unnaturally high numbers. This has, in turn, led to increased agricultural and livestock losses. Compounding the conservation issues it faces, this species occasionally preys on humans. Most tales are poorly documented and unconfirmed but, given this species' formidable size and strength, attacks on humans are quite often fatal. The species is uncommon in captivity and breeding it has proven to be a challenge. The first captive breeding outside its native range was at Aalborg Zoo in 2013. Notes See also List of largest reptiles References Further reading Spix JB (1825). Animalia nova sive species novae lacertarum, quas in itinere per Brasiliam annis MDCCCXVII – MDCCCXX jussu et auspiciis Maximiliani Josephi I. Bavariae Regis suscepto collegit et descripsit. Munich: F.S. Hübschmann. Index (4 unnumbered pages) + 26 pp. + 30 color plates. (Caiman niger, new species, pp. 3-4 + Plate IV). (in Latin). External links The Night of the Caimans, from International Wildlife Federation. Alligatoridae Crocodilians of South America Reptiles of Brazil Reptiles of Bolivia Reptiles of Colombia Reptiles of Ecuador Reptiles of French Guiana Reptiles of Guyana Reptiles of Peru Fauna of the Amazon Fauna of the Pantanal Reptiles described in 1825 Apex predators