African Slender-snouted Crocodile
Crocodylus cataphractus

CLASS: Reptilia
ORDER: Crocodylia
FAMILY: Crocodylidae

SIZE:
Up to 13 feet

RANGE:
Central western Africa

HABITAT:
Open waterways, lakes, lagoons, and rivers

DIET:
Wild - Generalized carnivore on smaller prey to about monkey size
Zoo - Fish, chicken, meat

DESCRIPTION:
Brownish to olive with some darker blotches. Bucklers (heavy scales on neck) in four rows, merging with dorsal scutes; jaws spotted or striped, very slender compared to Nile Crocodile.

FACTS:
Relatively solitary, seldom found in groups

A species of remote areas that remains poorly known

YOUNG:
Clutch small for a crocodile, about 16 eggs laid in a nest dug at the end of the dry season. Young hatch in about 4 months, the mother helping dig them out of the nest and protecting them for a short time. The small young feed on crustaceans and other invertebrates.

STATUS:
CITES Appendix I; Endangered

REFERENCE:
Alderton, D. Crocodiles & Alligators of the World.