American Crocodile
Crocodylus acutus
🐊
Chordata
Reptilia
Crocodilia
Crocodyloidea
Crocodylidae
Crocodylus
Crocodylus acutus
The salt-tolerant predator of mangroves and estuaries, Crocodylus acutus rules the tropical coastlines of the Americas with prehistoric calm and too many teeth.
Description
The American crocodile is a long-snouted, pale gray-green reptile perfectly adapted to both salt and fresh water. It thrives in mangrove swamps, coastal lagoons, and river mouths from southern Florida through Central America and down into northern South America. Males can exceed a ton of patience for sunbathing; females are smaller but equally irritable. Unlike its bulkier cousin the alligator, this crocodile’s narrow snout and exposed fourth tooth give it a permanent, slightly judgmental grin.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
1000
0.5
0.75
5
kg
m
m
m
Piscivore
Piscivores
Hunt History
Humans have admired, feared, and inevitably tried to turn Crocodylus acutus into shoes for millennia. Indigenous groups in Central America used its hide and fat, while 19th- and 20th-century traders nearly wiped it out for the leather market. Conservation laws came late, but the species now hangs on in protected mangrove belts.
Archaeological evidence of human interaction:
Coastal shell middens in Belize (circa 3,000 years ago) contain crocodile bones shaped by stone tools.
Sites in Jamaica show skinning marks on crocodile remains dating to the Taíno period (~1,000 years ago).
Early colonial hunting records from Hispaniola (1500s CE) describe organized crocodile drives in estuaries.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Extant
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
0
BP
Late Pleistocene
North America
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
High
Fat %
10
Est. Renderable Fat
100
kg
Targeted Organs
Tail fat
Adipose Depots
Tail fat depot, visceral
Preferred Cuts
Tail base
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
5