Mo Ganji: Siamese Crocodile | Siamesisches Krokodil | Crocodylus siamensis | No. 196/250 from work group 8/99

Mo Ganji brings the Siamese crocodile — a freshwater crocodilian once widespread across wetlands, rivers and marshes of Southeast Asia — into a field of concentration by letting the single line seek essence rather than power or antiquity. The line condenses the being into a reduced coherence, setting aside threat, scale and historical weight so that presence can emerge without assertion. In Ganji’s understanding, the line does not belong exclusively to the crocodile; it remains open, acknowledging that every figure is also a conceptual framing rather than a fixed truth.

Crocodylus siamensis is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. Once common across Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia, the species suffered catastrophic declines during the 20th century due to hunting and habitat destruction. Today, only small, fragmented wild populations persist, primarily in remote wetlands of Cambodia and Laos, alongside extensive captive populations.

The principal threats include historical overexploitation, loss and degradation of freshwater habitats, dam construction, hybridization with farmed crocodiles, and ongoing human disturbance. Because the Siamese crocodile depends on intact wetland systems for nesting and breeding, habitat fragmentation severely limits recovery. Conservation efforts now focus on habitat protection, reintroduction and safeguarding genetic integrity.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the crocodile can be encountered beyond dominance or prehistoric imagery. It allows attention to rest on a life shaped by still waters and restraint, suggesting how endurance measured in millennia can be undone within decades when landscapes are reshaped faster than living systems can adapt.