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SpeciesCrocodylidae
Reptiles

🐊West African slender-snouted crocodile

Mecistops cataphractus Cuvier, 1825

The West African slender-snouted crocodile, or slender-snouted crocodile, is a critically endangered species of African crocodile. It is one of five species of crocodile in Africa, the other four being the Central African slender-snouted, Nile, West African and dwarf crocodiles.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Also called
Mecistops cataphractus, African Slender-snouted Crocodile, African slender-snouted crocodile, Slender-snouted Crocodile
Conservation status
CRCritically endangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2014.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
51 kg
Body length
4 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
56 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the West African slender-snouted crocodile

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
51 kgrecord 667 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
4 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
56 yearsrecord 56 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
75 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Diet
Carnivorous
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Nocturnal
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Foraging mode
ACT
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Venomous
No
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
51 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for West African slender-snouted crocodile yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classCrocodylia
  4. ›familyCrocodylidae
  5. ›genusMecistops
  6. ›speciesMecistops cataphractus
Full lineage
  1. superclassTetrapoda
  2. orderSauria
  3. familyCrocodylidae
  4. genusMecistops
All 10 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. familyCrocodylidae
  10. genusMecistops
More

More about the West African slender-snouted crocodile

In other languages
Mecistops cataphractus (es), Faux-gavial d'Afrique (fr), páncélos krokodil (hu), африкански остромуцунест крокодил (bg), cocodril de Guinea (ca), Westafrikanisches Panzerkrokodil (de) … and 21 more languages
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