BROWNSVILLE, Texas, Oct. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, Gladys Porter Zoo animal staff departed for a trip north to Welland, Ontario.

A new genetic study by a team of Cuban and American researchers confirms that American crocodiles are hybridizing with wild populations of critically endangered Cuban crocodiles, which may cause a population decline of this species found only in the Cuban Archipelago.

An unprecedented operation has failed to save the life of an American crocodile that was hit by a car three months ago in the Florida Keys. The crocodile, nicknamed RoboCroc after a veterinarian attached four metal rods to his skull, was found dead Thursday morning at MetroZoo in Miami, The Miami Herald reported Saturday.

Florida wildlife researchers are taping magnets to the heads of crocodiles removed from residential areas to try to keep the crocs from returning. They want to see if the magnets, removed just before the crocodiles are released into the wild, will help short-circuit homing instincts that allow the reptiles to follow the earth's magnetic fields right back to the suburbs in which they were trapped, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday. Lindsey Hord, a biologist with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, said North American crocodiles will travel 30 to 50 miles to return to their former homes, sometimes within days.

An experiment has been launched by Florida wildlife managers to see if they can keep crocodiles from returning to residential neighborhoods.