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Nile Crocodile
Nile Crocodile
The largest and most formidable predator of African rivers and lakes.
Type: Chordates
Class: Reptiles
Order: Crocodiles
Family: Real crocodiles
Genus: Real crocodiles
Species: Nile Crocodile
General Settings
  • They live in Africa, Madagascar, the Seychelles and the Comoros.
  • The average length is about 4 m. In some cases, there are much more.
  • The weight of males reaches 300 kg. Females are smaller – up to 120 kg.
  • In addition to fish, it attacks a wide variety of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
  • Life expectancy is about 45 years, in some cases it can live up to 100 years.

The color of the Nile crocodile masks the predator well. Juveniles are usually gray or light brown with dark stripes on the back and tail. With age, the color darkens, and the stripes become inconspicuous.


Social behavior


During the breeding season, crocodiles (especially large males) become more territorial and intolerant of their own sex. The mating behavior of crocodiles is complex. Large males roar, raising their tail and head above the water. At times, they emit such infrasounds that the surface of the water literally "boils" around them. Females prefer the most active and strong males, swimming up to them.


Reproduction


In a hole up to 50 cm deep, which the female digs two meters from the shore, she lays an average of about 50 eggs. Eggs with a hard calcareous shell, similar to goose eggs. Incubation lasts up to 3 months.


Species and people


Because of the very valuable leather, crocodiles were actively hunted in the 1940s and 1960s. This led to a multiple reduction in the number of the species, resulting in the threat of its extinction. Now crocodiles are bred on special farms, and fishing in nature for the sake of skin is strictly prohibited.


Interesting Facts


In Nile crocodiles, gender of the baby is determined by temperature during the middle third of the incubation period, and not genetically. If the temperature inside the nest was below 31.7 °C or above 34.5 °C, then the females are mainly born.

The bite force of the slightly more than 5-meter-long Nile crocodile was measured at 2,268 kg.

Current status in wildlife
  • Not
    evaluated
    NE
  • Data
    deficient
    DD
  • Data
    deficient
    lc
  • near
    threatened
    NT
  • vulnerable
    vu
  • endangered
    en
  • critically
    endangered
    cr
  • extinct
    in the wild
    ew
  • Extinct
    ex
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