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Crocodile à tanguieta🐊

Photo: Florentin66 · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesCrocodylidae
Reptiles

🐊Dwarf crocodile

Osteolaemus tetraspis Cope, 1861

Тупорылый крокодил (лат. Osteolaemus tetraspis) — самый маленький представитель семейства настоящих крокодилов, отличающийся коренастым телосложением и уникальной «сплошной броней» из костных пластин на спине и животе. Этот скрытный ночной хищник обитает в тропических лесах Африки, предпочитая небольшие водоемы и ведя полусухопутный образ жизни. Благодаря коротким челюстям он специализируется на поедании ракообразных и моллюсков, при этом почти не представляя опасности для человека из-за своих скромных размеров.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
9
vs you
≈ half your weight
Also called
African Dwarf Crocodile, West African Dwarf Crocodile
Conservation status
VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 1996.

Key measurements
Body mass
40 kg
Body length
1.9 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
70 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Dwarf crocodile

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

Body mass
40 kgrecord 80 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
1.9 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

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

Maximum lifespan
70 yearsrecord 69 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

Litter size
about 10
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
40 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 Dwarf crocodile yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

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

More about the Dwarf crocodile

In other languages
Osteolaemus tetraspis (es), Crocodile nain (fr), krokodyl krótkopyski (pl), תנין גמדי (he), tompaorrú krokodil (hu), Osteolaemus tetraspis (it) … and 24 more languages
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