In 1978, Turkey Point workers found 1 crocodile nest when Florida had fewer than 300 left. 48 years later, about 400 live in its canals, turning a nuclear plant into an unlikely crocodile habitat

A nuclear power plant might seem like an unlikely place for a threatened species to recover. But at Turkey Point, south of Miami, an unexpected discovery in 1978 helped set the stage for a remarkable comeback.

A worker found a clutch of American crocodile eggs buried in a raised dirt bank beside one of the plant's cooling canals, as per a report. At the time, coastal development had destroyed much of the species' nesting habitat, and some estimates put the entire U.S. population at fewer than 300 animals, as per a Scienceblog report.

Forty-eight years later, about 400 American crocodiles live around the Turkey Point canal system, which holds the densest crocodile population in North America.

The canals created an accidental refuge

Turkey Point's two reactors began operating in the early 1970s. To cool them, engineers built 168 miles of shallow canals across about 5,900 acres of former wetland.

The canals were never intended to serve as wildlife habitat. But soil excavated during construction was piled into long, raised banks between the waterways.

For crocodiles, those banks provided dry, well-drained ground for nesting, while the nearby canals offered quiet, brackish water. The fenced industrial property also kept out much of the development, boating and hunting that had affected habitat elsewhere along the coast.

A cooling system built for a nuclear plant had unintentionally created favorable conditions for crocodiles.

The first nest led to a monitoring program

After the discovery, Florida Power & Light hired biologists and established a crocodile monitoring program that has continued every summer.

During hatching season, crews patrol the canals at night, collect emerging hatchlings, weigh and measure them, implant microchips and release them back into the area.

The team also manages the habitat by clearing invasive plants from nesting banks and digging small freshwater ponds. Young crocodiles need fresh water during their first months while their salt glands develop. During dry years, the plant can pump fresh water into the system to maintain suitable salinity.

Thousands of hatchlings followed

The crocodiles continued to reproduce in the canal system. By 1985, Turkey Point was producing about a tenth of South Florida's crocodile hatchlings.

Recent counts show that the monitoring program has tagged more than 10,000 hatchlings since the first nest was found. About 400 American crocodiles now live around Turkey Point, representing roughly a quarter of the approximately 2,000 American crocodiles believed to live in the United States, as per the Scienceblog report.

The crocodiles are not exposed to radiation

The plant's nuclear setting naturally raises questions about radiation.

The cooling water remains in a closed loop on the clean side of the plant and does not come into contact with radioactive material. Decades of monitoring have found no sign of radiation in the crocodiles. They grow, breed and behave like American crocodiles elsewhere.

An industrial site became a refuge

Turkey Point's crocodile program became part of the species' broader recovery.

In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moved the American crocodile from endangered to threatened. Federal biologists credited the canal program and its man-made nesting banks with helping compensate for some of the natural habitat lost elsewhere along the coast, as per the Scienceblog report.

What began with one unexpected nest in 1978 has grown into a long-running conservation effort. Nearly five decades later, about 400 American crocodiles live around Turkey Point, turning an industrial cooling system into an unlikely refuge for a species once reduced to fewer than 300 in the United States.