Orinoco Crocodile
Crocodylus intermedius
🐊
Chordata
Reptilia
Crocodilia
Crocodyloidea
Crocodylidae
Crocodylus
Crocodylus intermedius
The pale giant of the Orinoco, Crocodylus intermedius once ruled Venezuela’s rivers with quiet authority, a golden-gray predator whose presence kept entire ecosystems honest.
Description
The Orinoco crocodile is the largest predator in South America, confined now mostly to the Orinoco River basin of Venezuela and Colombia. It favors deep, slow-flowing rivers and flooded savannas where it waits motionless in ochre-colored water, pretending to be driftwood until something edible drifts closer. Adults are pale olive to yellow-gray, lighter than most crocodiles, with a long, narrow snout designed for ambushing fish, capybara, and the occasional unlucky mammal that gets too curious.
Once common across vast river networks, the species now clings to survival in a few isolated reserves and reintroduction sites. Habitat loss, illegal hunting, and egg collection have shredded its numbers to the edge of oblivion.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
400
0.5
0.75
5
kg
m
m
m
Piscivore
Piscivores
Hunt History
Humans, predictably, turned the Orinoco crocodile into fashion. From the 17th through early 20th centuries, its skin was hunted for high-quality leather, nearly annihilating the species. Earlier Indigenous groups likely hunted it opportunistically for meat and oil, using harpoons and traps along the floodplains. By the 1960s, hide trading drove it to near extinction. Conservation began only when it was almost too late.
Archaeological and historical evidence of human interaction:
Pre-Columbian carvings from the Llanos region (around 1,000 BCE) depict crocodile figures associated with water spirits, suggesting hunting and reverence.
Colonial-era expedition logs (1700s CE) describe “river beasts” hunted with spears and firearms along the Apure River.
By the early 1900s, leather traders in Venezuela recorded organized hunting along the Capanaparo and Cojedes Rivers, removing hundreds of hides yearly.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Extant
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
0
BP
Late Pleistocene
South America
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
High
Fat %
10
Est. Renderable Fat
40
kg
Targeted Organs
Tail fat
Adipose Depots
Tail fat depot, visceral
Preferred Cuts
Tail base
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
5