Alisa
Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodylius)
About me
| Basic Info | Home: | Me and my four-eyed friends are found all across the Central and Southern part of South America. |
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| Size: | Well, I'm around the 3.5 metre mark, which is pretty much the biggest we get. My brother Ronnie is a good metre smaller then me though. | |
| Favourite foods: | The classic play dead routine works a treat - all those suckers thinking we're just lying there chilling in the water, then BOOM!! A snap of my jaw and a tasty turtle's mine! Yum! I'm not fussy though - fish, frogs and other reptiles, they're all fair game! | |
| Environment: | Water, water everywhere – fresh or salty. | |
| Sounds like: | MMMMMMMMMMM!!! |
| Further Info |
Although caimans have strong, powerful jaws that can crush turtle shells, the muscles that open the mouth are fairly weak, meaning that the mouth can be kept shut with a rubber band. Unlike many reptiles caiman exhibit a high degree of maternal care. The mother lays eggs in a nest on land then carries the babies to the water once they have hatched and protects them for up to 18 months. She’ll even look after unrelated young in a Caiman ‘nursery’. The crocodilians that shared the earth with the early dinosaurs looked very different to those around today. They walked on their hind legs much like the raptors from Jurassic Park, they were fast runners only around 1ft in length and lived entirely on dry land. The modern day crocodilians have survived so long because they are in fact highly evolved animals superbly adapted to their environment rather than the primitive beasts many people think. |
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