Crocodylus intermedius 203388514🐊

Photo: Jay Pruett · CC BY 4.0

SpeciesCrocodylidae
Reptiles

🐊Orinoco crocodile

Crocodylus intermedius (Graves, 1819)

The Orinoco crocodile is a critically endangered crocodile which can only be found in the Orinoco river basin in Venezuela and Colombia. Extensively hunted for their skins in the 19th and 20th centuries, it is one of the most endangered species of crocodiles. It is a very large species of crocodilian; males have been reported up to 6.8 m in the past, weighing over 900 kg (2,000 lb), but such sizes do not exist today, 5.2 m being a more widely accepted maximum size. A large male today may attain 4.2 m in length and can weigh up to 450 kg (1,000 lb), while females are substantially smaller with the largest likely to weigh around 225 kg (496 lb). Sexual dimorphism is not as profound as in other crocodilian species. The coloration is light even in adults.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
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Conservation status
CRCritically endangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.

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

Everything we know about the Orinoco crocodile

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

Body mass
108 kgrecord 653 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
4.8 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

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

Maximum lifespan
41 yearsrecord 80 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

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

Snout–vent length
2.5 maverage
Other figures ↓

Species-level value synthesised as the mean of: female.

By sex

  • Female2.5 mReptTraitsv1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024)
Volume l
108 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 Orinoco crocodile yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

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

More about the Orinoco crocodile

In other languages
Crocodylus intermedius (es), Crocodile de l'Orénoque (fr), Krokodyl orinokański (pl), תנין אורינוקו (he), orinocói krokodil (hu), Crocodylus intermedius (it) … and 24 more languages
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