American crocodile

Not to be confused with the American alligator.

American crocodile
Temporal range: Pleistocene–Present, 2.6–0 Ma[1]
↓
At La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[3][note 1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Order: Crocodilia
Family: Crocodylidae
Genus: Crocodylus
Species:
C. acutus
Binomial name
Crocodylus acutus
Cuvier, 1807
Distribution range of C. acutus (green = terrestrial range; horizontal lines = marine range).
Distribution range of C. acutus.
Synonyms

The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida, the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola,[4] and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.

The habitat of the American crocodile consists largely of coastal areas.[5] It is also found in river systems, but tends to prefer salinity, resulting in the species congregating in brackish lakes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, cays, and small islands. Other crocodiles also have tolerance to saltwater due to salt glands underneath the tongue, but the American crocodile is the only species other than the saltwater crocodile to commonly live and thrive in saltwater.[6] They can be found on beaches and small island formations without any freshwater source, such as many cays and islets across the Caribbean. They are also found in hypersaline lakes; one of the largest known populations inhabits Lago Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic.[7]

The American crocodile is one of the largest crocodile species. Males can reach lengths of more than 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in), weighing over 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb).[7][8] On average, mature males are more in the range of 2.9 to 4.1 m (9 ft 6 in to 13 ft 5 in) in length weighing up to about 400 kg (880 lb).[9] As with other crocodile species, females are smaller, rarely exceeding 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in) in length even in the largest-bodied population.[10]

Like any other large crocodilian, the American crocodile is potentially dangerous to humans, but it tends not to be as aggressive as some other species.[11] American crocodiles coexist with the American alligator in Florida, and with the smaller spectacled caiman within Central America and South America. The IUCN lists the American crocodile as vulnerable.

  1. ^ Rio, Jonathan P.; Mannion, Philip D. (6 September 2021). "Phylogenetic analysis of a new morphological dataset elucidates the evolutionary history of Crocodylia and resolves the long-standing gharial problem". PeerJ. 9: e12094. doi:10.7717/peerj.12094. PMC 8428266. PMID 34567843.
  2. ^ Rainwater, T.R.; Platt, S.G.; Charruau, P.; Balaguera-Reina, S.A.; Sigler, L.; Cedeño-Vázquez, J.R.; Thorbjarnarson, J.B. (2022) [amended version of 2021 assessment]. "Crocodylus acutus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T5659A212805700. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T5659A212805700.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Appendices". CITES. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  4. ^ Thorbjarnarson, John (1989). "Ecology of the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)". Crocodiles: their ecology, management, and conservation. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. pp. 228–258. ISBN 978-2-88032-987-7. OCLC 20272513.
  5. ^ "American Crocodile". People.wcsu.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  6. ^ Ellis, T. M. (1981). "Tolerance of sea water by the American crocodile, Crocodylus acutus". Journal of Herpetology. 15 (2): 187–192. doi:10.2307/1563379. JSTOR 1563379.
  7. ^ a b "American Crocodiles, American Crocodile Pictures, American Crocodile Facts — National Geographic". Animals.nationalgeographic.com. 2013-04-15. Archived from the original on January 17, 2010. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  8. ^ Savage, Jay M. (August 2002). The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press. p. 778. ISBN 978-0-226-73537-5.
  9. ^ "ANIMAL BYTES — American Crocodile". Seaworld.org. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  10. ^ "WEC 38/UW157: American Crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) in Florida". Edis.ifas.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  11. ^ "Crocodilian Species — American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)". Crocodilian.com. Retrieved 2013-04-25.


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