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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
Nile
crocodile |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Reptilia |
| ORDER: |
Crocodylia |
| FAMILY: |
Crocodylidae |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Crocodylus
(crocodile) niloticus (belonging to the
Nile River) |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
Large,
lizard-shaped reptile with four short legs and a
long muscular tail. The hide is rough and scaled.
Juvenile Nile crocodiles are dark olive to brown
with darker crossbands on tail and body. Adults
are uniformly dark with darker crossbands on tail. |
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| SIZE: |
Averaging
approximately 5 m (16 ft.) with maximum size of
roughly 6 m (20 ft.) |
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| WEIGHT: |
Adults
of both sexes may easily exceed 225 kg (500 lb.) |
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| DIET: |
Up
to 70% of the adult diet is fish. Other prey items
may include zebras, hippos, porcupines, pangolins,
and migrating widebeest. |
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| INCUBATION: |
Approximately
3 months |
| Females
nest in November and December on sandy shorelines,
dry stream beds, or riverbanks. |
| CLUTCH
SIZE |
A
female can lay 25-100 eggs, which she covers with
sand, then guards until they hatch. |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
Relates
to size |
| MALE |
Males
are mature at roughly 3 m (10 ft.); approximately
10 years of age |
| FEMALE |
Females
are mature at roughly 2 m (6.5 ft.); approximately
10 years of age |
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| LIFE
SPAN: |
Average
approximately 45 years in the wild, may live up
to 80 years in captivity |
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| RANGE: |
Found
throughout tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar |
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| HABITAT: |
Rivers,
freshwater marshes, estuaries, and mangrove swamps |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
No
data |
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| STATUS: |
IUCN |
No
data |
| CITES |
No
data |
| USFWS |
Endangered |
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| 1. |
A
crocodile's ectothermic metabolism is extremely
efficient. A large crocodile, which may weigh more
than 900 kg (2000 lb.), can survive for long periods
of time between meals! |
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| 2. |
If
baby crocodiles are in danger, the adult female
may pick them up and flip them into her mouth or
gular (throat) pouch for protection. |
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| 3. |
When
fish are migrating, crocs may hunt cooperatively
by forming a semi-circle across the river and herding
the fish. They then eat the fish that are closest
to them. |
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| 4. |
When
young crocodiles are hatching, either parent may
help them out of the egg by rolling it between their
tongue and palate. This cracks the shell allowing
for an easier escape. |
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| 5. |
For
more information about Nile crocodiles go to the
Fact Sheet. |
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| Nile
crocodiles are ecologically important as predators.
They help the environment by keeping barbel catfish,
which are predators themselves, in check. Barbels
eat other fishes which are the diet of more than
40 species of birds. If birds leave an area because
there are no edible fish, the amount of bird droppings,
which provides nutrients for the fish, declines,
and the food chain is disrupted. Unfortunately,
the Nile crocodiles' population suffers from pollution,
hunting, and entanglement in gill nets. |
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|
|
| CSG
Newsletter, Vol. 2 (1), Jan-Mar 1992. IUCN World
Conservation Union Species Survival Plan Commission. |
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| Halliday,
T. and K. Adler, eds. Encyclopedia of Reptiles
and Amphibians. New York: Facts on File, Inc.,
1987. |
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|
Ross,
C., ed. Crocodiles and Alligators. New
York: Facts on File, Inc., 1989.
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| Steele,
R. Crocodiles. London: Cristopher Helm Ltd.,
1989. |
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| Vissen,
J. and T. Pooley. The Tony Pooley Guide to the
Nile Crocodile and other African Crocodiles.
1982. |
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