Size
3 – 5 meters
(9.8 – 16.4 feet)
Diet
Fish, small mammals, birds, and invertebrates
Range
Orinoco crocodile range
Fact
Orinoco crocodiles communicate by snapping their jaws, vocalizing, thrashing their tails, and secreting an odor.
Making A Difference
Hunted for their skins, the Orinoco crocodile population declined by 80% in the early to mid-1900s. A group of Venezuelan farmers started breeding them on private lands in 1990, establishing the first Orinoco crocodile breeding program. Breeding programs, like the one at the Leslie Pantin Zoo in Venezuela, have hatched eggs under carefully monitored conditions and released ten thousand Orinoco crocodiles into the wild. The zoo also catches wild-born hatchlings and raises them in the safety of the zoo grounds. In the wild, hatchlings have a high mortality rate, as they become easy meals for birds, fish, and reptiles. Captive breeding and head start programs give young crocodiles a better chance of surviving to adulthood.
Females lay 40-60 eggs at a time in a hole in sand bars. The temperature of the nest in the first few weeks determines the sex of the hatchlings.
Female Orinoco crocodile
