This is the nearest relative of the alligator and is found in Central America and tropical South America. As seen by the table on [page 2], it is usually a small animal, though one species, the black caiman, is said to reach a length of twenty feet ([Fig. 10]). The nasal bones do not form a bony septum as in the alligator and the ventral armor consists of overlapping bony scutes. The canine teeth of the lower jaw fit into a pit in the upper jaw, as in the alligator.
They are said by some writers to be extremely abundant in the waters of the upper Amazon, migrating to the flooded forests during the rainy season and returning to the streams on the approach of the dry season. According to Ditmars there are five species of caiman of which the spectacled caiman, C. sclerops, and the black caiman, C. niger, are the most striking. The former is so named because of the spectacled appearance due to the swollen and wrinkled upper eyelids; it reaches a length of eight feet and is said to be of a treacherous disposition. The latter has a blunt snout like the alligator and is the largest of the New World crocodilians.
The American Crocodile
Of about a dozen existing species of crocodile, but one, the American crocodile, C. americanus, is found in the United States, and it is limited to the swamps and coast of southern Florida below Lake Worth; its greater sensitiveness to cold is doubtless the cause of its not being found so far north as the alligator. Its range extends south through Mexico and Central America into South America. It was first found in Florida by Dr. Hornaday in 1875. It sometimes reaches a length of fourteen feet.
As has already been noted there is, besides certain structural differences, a marked difference in the dispositions of the Florida alligator and crocodile. While an alligator may snap its jaws, hiss, and swing its tail from side to side, it is not difficult for a couple of men with ropes and a pole to safely tie up a large specimen. The struggles of a crocodile are of a more serious nature. Ditmars thus describes an encounter with a captive Florida crocodile: “The writer well remembers his first acquaintance with a big fellow from Florida. Driven out of the crate the crocodile looked the picture of good nature. Standing away from what he thought to be the reach of his tail, the writer prodded the apparently sluggish brute with a stick to start it for the tank. Several things happened in quick order. With a crescentic twist of the body utterly beyond the power of an alligator, the brute dashed its tail at the writer, landing him such a powerful blow that he was lifted completely from the ground. As he left terra firma, an almost involuntary inclination caused him to hurl his body away from a pair of widely-gaping, tooth-studded jaws swinging perilously near. Landing with a thud on one shoulder, though otherwise unhurt, the writer threw himself over and over, rolling from the dangerous brute that was actually pursuing him on the run, body raised high from the ground. For an instant it seemed as if the crocodile would win. As the writer sprang to his feet and glanced backward, he beheld the brute throw itself flat on its belly, open the jaws widely, then remain motionless as a statue. Such is the average crocodile—an active, vicious and, above all, treacherous brute.” Ditmars says again, in the same book: “When the keepers of the reptile house of the New York Zoölogical Park clean out the big pool of the crocodilians, they actually walk over the backs of some of the big ’gators, so tame are these. They never become unduly familiar with the crocodiles, finding it necessary to pen the latter behind heavily barred gates—and in the process the men are often chased from the enclosure.”
Nile Crocodile. (Crocodilus niloticus.)
Distribution: Africa generally; Madagascar.
Grows to a length of sixteen feet. (After Ditmars.)
(Reproduced by Permission of Sturgis & Walton Co.)