Crocodiles or crocodilians (order Crocodylia) are the largest reptiles that exist today Among them are alligators, gharials and true crocodiles. They are all semi-terrestrial animals and have an unmistakable body morphology. Due to their particular way of life and their powerful jaw, they have caused terror in all civilizations, but also a lot of admiration.
Crocodile Characteristics
Before knowing how crocodiles reproduce, it is essential that we know a series of characteristics that can give us some clues:
- They are amniotes: Your embryo develops inside a series of shells containing a liquid medium. This allows crocodile reproduction to take place out of the water, unlike what happens in amphibians.
- Direct development: they lay eggs and do not present larvae, but the individuals that are born are very similar to their parents, although with a size too small.
- Late Maturity: the largest species (3-6 meters) reach sexual maturity around 10 to 15 years. From that moment, they begin to reproduce. However, the smaller species (1-3 meters) can reach maturity at 4 years of age.
- Long reproductive life: Crocodiles are very long-lived animals. The largest species can live up to 80 years, while the smallest usually live between 20 and 40 years. For this reason, the playback period is very long.
- They are sauropsids: they belong to the Sauropsida class, like birds and all the animals we know as reptiles (lizards, turtles, snakes, etc.). From the animals they are related to, we can imagine how crocodiles reproduce.
- They are archosaurs: the ancestors of crocodiles appeared about 250 million years ago. Together with the dinosaurs, they form the clade Archosauria. The only archosaurs that survived the great Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction were some types of flying dinosaurs (birds) and the ancestors of crocodiles. Therefore, birds are the closest relatives of the order Crocodylia.
Where do crocodiles live?
Crocodiles have a tropical and subtropical distribution. They are found in the warm areas of all continents, except Antarctica. Therefore, they can be seen in southern Asia, throughout Oceania, in almost all of sub-Saharan Africa and in warm America, from the southern United States to the Amazon.
The habitat of crocodiles is the rivers, lakes, deltas, marshes, mangroves and swamps The specific places they can inhabit depend on each family and even each species. For this reason, we recommend that you take a look at this other article on Where do crocodiles live. However, if you want to know how crocodiles reproduce, read on!
The reproduction of the crocodile
Crocodile reproduction occurs once a year. It takes place in the rainy season and begins with the defense of the territory. The males swim along the place they have chosen for their reproduction. As they do so, they display some parts of their body, such as their heads and tails. In addition, they emit articulated sounds, that is, vocalizations. If this display doesn't work, they may even fight each other When this happens, they butt heads and snap jaws while raising their bodies.
For a male, gaining a territory means keeping the females that live in it. Normally, the winner of the territory is the oldest and largest individual. Therefore, the animals that meet these characteristics are the ones that reproduce the most, being able to copulate with more than 15 females during a reproductive season. Therefore, crocodiles are polygamous animals.
However, it's not as easy as it seems. Dominant males must court females. To do this, both approach each other, brush their snouts, rub their bodies, emit vocalizations, swim together and dive several times. If both wish, Copulation takes place underwater and can last up to 15 minutes.
Caring for baby crocodiles
After copulation, the females defend the place where they are going to build their nest. Some types of crocodiles make mounds on the land closest to the water. Other crocodiles make holes in the ground in the typical shape of a nest. It is in these places where females lay between 10 and 60 eggs, depending on the species and the size of the female. After spawning, they very often cover the nests with plants.
In most species of the order Crocodylia, the females stay close to the nest to protect their eggs. After 2 or 3 months, depending on the temperature of the sand, the eggs hatch. It is then that some small crocodiles are born, which their mother helps to get out of the nest. Then puts them into his mouth and carries them to the water.
Baby crocodiles are very vulnerable, so it is common for their mother to take care of them until they can fend for themselves To do this, She always stays by her side and sometimes allies herself with other mothers to defend their little ones together. In some species, the female digs another nest by the water in order to protect the young there.
If you want to know more about how crocodiles reproduce, we recommend this other article on Crocodile Incubation.
Crocodile trivia
Now that we know how crocodiles reproduce, let's answer some of the most common questions about crocodiles. We leave you some curiosities about crocodiles:
What is the name of the female crocodile?
The term “crocodile” is masculine, so we cannot use the determiner “la”, but we must always say “el gator”. The term "crocodile" is also not correct, since it does not exist. For this reason, when we refer to a female of this order of reptiles we should always say “ the female crocodile”.
In the same way it happens when a noun has a feminine gender. An example is the term “otter”. It is not correct to say “otter” or “the otter”, but we must say “the male otter”.
How do crocodiles move?
Crocodiles are semi-aquatic animals that spend many hours underwater. As we told you in the article about crocodile feeding, they camouflage themselves on the shore waiting for their prey and pounce on them. But they are not always still, but the crocodiles swim and dive with ease. To do this, they propel themselves with the movement of their tail and use their legs as oars.
They are also very agile on the ground. This is because they can put their legs in a more or less vertical position and walk by raising their body on them. However, due to their heavy size, they must spend a lot of time resting after a prolonged period of activity. They do it, normally, while sunbathing in a group. This is how they increase their body temperature, since they are ectothermic animals.
What is the largest crocodile in the world? And the smallest?
The largest crocodile ever captured was a Crocodylus porosus, the s altwater crocodile. This giant reptile was 6, 17 meters long and weighed 1,076 kilograms. However, we must bear in mind that it is difficult to measure these animals, so there are probably other larger ones in the wild.
As opposed to s altwater crocodiles, we have Osteolaemus tetraspi, known as the dwarf crocodile. These animals have an average size of 1.7 meters.
How do crocodiles communicate?
Crocodiles are the most social reptiles that exist. The parental care that we have already mentioned is a good example of this. For them to take place, the mother and the young must communicate very well. For this reason, the little ones make constant vocalizations that attract the attention of their mother. Often these huge reptiles live in more or less constantgroups that inhabit the same place.
Due to their life in society, crocodiles have a very diverse signal system. Like all animals, they communicate by secreting hormones, although what stands out the most are their vocalizations and soundsDepending on the characteristics of the sound, they cause one action or another in the other individuals of their species. In addition, they communicate through postures, such as wagging their tails or raising their snouts.
