A species once on the brink of extinction is thriving once again: 'They've bounced back fairly spectacularly'

There's no better place to see saltwater crocodiles than Australia's Northern Territory, but that wasn't always the case. Thanks to a successful conservation program, this species has come back from the brink of extinction to almost exceed its precolonial population.

In Australia, the population of saltwater crocodiles — known locally as "salties" — fell to just about 3,000 in the mid-1900s after hunters targeted them for their skins, according to The Wildlife Society. Today, they number over 100,000.

"For a big animal, they've bounced back fairly spectacularly in terms of numbers," Sam Banks, director of the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University, told The Wildlife Society.

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It's a good thing because crocodiles play an important ecological role in the region. As a species that travels hundreds of miles, they transport critical nutrients across ecosystems as they go.

Conservation policy is never simple, but the Australian government seems to have struck a balance that has supported the salties and their economic importance to the region. Under the federal law protecting saltwater crocodiles, some farming is allowed.

But saving the crocodiles was only half the battle. As the salties population grows, so too does the chance for more interaction between humans and crocodiles. Today, it's about managing safety for all parties involved.

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With that in mind, farming wasn't the only part of Australia's conservation policy that supports crocodiles and humans to live in harmony. The territory uses an education campaign called Be Crocwise and a relocation campaign to reduce the likelihood of human-crocodile interaction. Wildlife conservation managers remove between 250 and 300 crocodiles from Darwin Harbor — a primary tourist destination and crocodile habitat — each year, according to The Wildlife Society.

Florida and the Philippines adopted Australia's crocodile conservation model because of its success, according to BBC News. But coexisting with such predators isn't always easy. Crocodiles sometimes attack cattle, just like wolves closer to home, where wolf reintroduction has sparked similar controversy.

One reader of a BBC News article on the salties suggested putting up signs that tell tourists to keep a safe distance from crocodiles to ensure visitors are being respectful to wildlife.