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Crocodiles (and alligators)

© Jeremiah James Baldwin

Crocodiles Sweet cigar shaped lizards, it's a crocodile! But how can you be sure of that? Perhaps it is an alligator, or a gavial, or perhaps it is a caiman; tough all of them may be called crocodilians, how do you know it's a crocodile?

Alligator Crocodile

Crocodiles and alligators have long, low cigar shaped bodies, a very large assortment of sharp teeth, tough hides, long snouts and a long POWERFULL tail with which they use to swim very quickly. However, crocodiles have a pointed snout while alligator's snouts are rounded. Crocodiles also weigh 1/3 less than alligators, and can move a great deal more quickly. The jaws of the two different species vary in that while the two of them both have overgrown 4th teeth, the alligators 2 big teeth fit into a small cavity in the upper jaw, while those of the crocodile slide into a grove on the outside of the upper jaw, where they are visible even when the jaw is closed.

Crocodiles live in the swamps, marshes, sluggish rivers, large bodies of water, etc. where they are allowed to walk on soft ground by their webbed feet. When it comes time to hunt they seize small animals such as fish, birds, turtles and such which the swallow whole. Occasionally crocodiles will offend larger animals, which they quickly and very violently rip to pieces by thrashing about in the water, in their lengthwise direction. Crocodiles HAVE been known to attack humans, and I guarantee you they will if you so much as look at them funny, or just walk by them for that matter. Crocodiles are more aggressive than alligators, and it 'don't take no rocket scientist' to tell that they would not even hesitate on attacking something if they have any appetite at all.

It is natural instinct for a crocodile or alligator to attack nearby prey, and since they are very common in swampy areas, it should be a natural if not artificial instinct to us humans, to leave them alone.

When crocodiles lay their eggs, they bury them in rubbish, vegetation or bury them in the sand of the beach they are home to. Females generally guard the nests until the eggs have hatched. She can hear the grunting of them when the time is right and once this happens she digs them out of the shelter. Once hatched they are carried in the mother's mouth to the water. The American crocodile lives in the very southern end of Florida, in the West Indian islands, and Central America, and are approximately 12 feet long at adult age. However for the most part crocodiles inhabit the Eastern Hemisphere. They belong to the family Crocodylidae.

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