Crocodile
hideSee full taxonomy.
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). The term can also be used more loosely to include all members of the order Crocodilia: i.e. the true crocodiles, the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae) and the gharials (family Gavialidae), or even the Crocodylomorpha which includes prehistoric crocodile relatives and ancestors. Crocodiles are large aquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Crocodiles tend to congregate in freshwater habitats like rivers, lakes, wetlands and sometimes in brackish water. They feed mostly on vertebrates like fish, reptiles, and mammals, sometimes on invertebrates like mollusks and crustaceans, depending on species. They are an ancient lineage, and are believed to have changed little since the time of the dinosaurs. They are believed to be 200 million years old whereas dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago; crocodiles survived great extinction events.
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News tagged with crocodiles
Rare crocs found hiding in plain sight in Cambodia
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Conservationists searching for one of the world's most endangered crocodile species say they have found dozens of the reptiles lounging in plain sight - at a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia.
The first DNA barcodes of commonly traded bushmeat are published
Sep 04, 2009 |
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Leather handbags and chunks of red meat: when wildlife specialists find these items in shipping containers, luggage, or local markets, they can now use newly published genetic sequences known as "DNA barcodes" ...
Naming evolution's winners and losers
Jul 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Mammals and many species of birds and fish are among evolution's "winners," while crocodiles, alligators and a reptile cousin of snakes known as the tuatara are among the losers, according ...
Mapping the crocodile genome
Jul 28, 2009 |
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The first ever genetic linkage map for a non-avian member of the Class Reptilia has been developed. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genomics have constructed a first-generation genetic linkage map for th ...
Skin demand threatens Nigeria crocs
May 12, 2009 |
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Business is booming at Ismail Dauda's crocodile tannery in northern Nigeria, but environmentalists fear soaring demand for skins could be driving the reptiles to extinction.
Can magnets keep crocodiles away from Florida's suburbs?
Mar 09, 2009 |
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Veteran trapper Todd Hardwick, who has hauled hundreds of alligators and crocodiles out of neighborhoods over the years, tried something strange earlier this year.
Magnets might dissuade crocodiles from settling in neighborhoods
Biology /
Feb 24, 2009 |
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Magnets taped to the heads of captured crocodiles could keep them from returning to South Florida neighborhoods where they're not wanted, state wildlife officials said Monday.
Dwarf crocodiles split into three species
Biology /
Dec 12, 2008 |
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You'd think that if scientists were to discover a new species, it would be in some remote, uncharted tropical forest, not a laboratory in New York. But a team from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics ...
