Orinoco Crocodile

The Orinoco crocodile is South America's largest predator. The males at one time reached lengths of 23 ft (7 m), bit due to overhunting of the larger specimens the average size is now 16.6 ft (5 m). Females are generally smaller, reaching lengths of 10 ft (3.2 m). Males weigh around 950 lbs (380 kg), and females 450 lbs (200 kg).

This crocodile spice is a very odd crocodile in that it has no subspecies and yet comes in three colour types. Each type has been given a name. If the crocodile is negro, then the skin is a uniform dark grey. Mariposo means that the skin is greyish-green with black dorsal patches. The third colour, amarillo, is the most common with a light, tan body with dark areas scattered throughout. In captivity it has been noted that the skin can change colours over time.

Like all crocodilians, the majority of the Orinoco crocodile's diet consists of fish, but as an opportunistic apex predator virtually any animal living within its range could be considered a potential meal for a large adult (including capybara, domestic animals, and even occasionally other large predators if food is scarce.) There have been reports of attacks on humans, but this is highly unlikely given the extremely low population level of the species and its relative isolation from large human settlements

The Orinoco crocodile mates during the drier period of the year and usually 14 weeks after mating, the female crocodile will dig a nest. It is a hole-nester and usually makes the nest on a sand bank. The eggs incubate for around 3 months. During the night they hatch and call to their mother who digs them out of the nest and carries them to the water. The young are defended by their mother for a year. Young Orinoco crocodiles are often at risk from American Black Vultures, tegu lizards, anacondas, caimans, and other carnivores.

They can be found in the middle and lower parts of the Orinoco River in the Llanas Savannah of Venezuela and Colombia (South America). They prefer freshwater, but do have a tolerance for high salinity, as evidenced by the sighting of Orinoco crocodiles on the island of Trinidad, over 150 miles north of Venezuela, that had been washed out into the ocean by a flood and had survived. Orinoco crocodiles had at one time a much larger range, being found in tropical evergreen forests and in streams in the Andes.