Details
Crocodylus intermedius
The Orinoco crocodile is a giant crocodilian confined to the Orinoco basin. Commercial hunting devastated it, leaving one of the world's rarest crocodiles.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It is endemic to the Orinoco drainage of Colombia and Venezuela. Large rivers, sandbars, floodplains and seasonal llanos wetlands form its core habitat.
Adults are about 300-550 cm long and 195-428 kg. The snout is relatively narrow, and body color varies from gray to tan or dark brown.
Adults are mostly solitary and hold stretches of riverbank. Activity is greatest at night, and dry-season waterholes can concentrate animals.
Fish are important prey, but birds, reptiles and mammals are also taken. Large adults are apex predators within the river system.
Females dig nests in dry sandbars, with hatching timed near seasonal rises in water. Eggs and young are vulnerable to lizards, birds and predatory fish.
Recovery depends on protection, captive breeding and releases. Fragmented populations, fishing conflict and illegal collection continue to limit the species.
