SaltwaterCrocodile('Maximo')🐊

Photo: Obtained · Public domain

SpeciesCrocodylidae
Reptiles

🐊Saltwater crocodile

Crocodylus porosus Schneider, 1801

The saltwater crocodile is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 1996. It was hunted for its skin throughout its range up to the 1970s, and is threatened by illegal killing and habitat loss. It is regarded as dangerous to humans.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
14
Photos
2
Measurements
10
vs you
≈ 3.2× your weight
Also called
Crocodylus porosus, Estuarine Crocodile, Salt-water Crocodile
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2021.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
200 kg
Body length
6 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
57 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Saltwater crocodile

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

Body mass
200 kgrecord 150 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: questionable

Record: largest individual on record

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

Body length
6 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Other figures ↓

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

Figures vary

  • 6.15 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Maximum lifespan
57 yearsrecord 100 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: questionable

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

Danger to humans
traumatogenic
SeaLifeBase
Details ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Snout–vent length
3.1 maverage
Other figures ↓

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

By sex

  • Female3.1 mReptTraitsv1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024)
Volume l
200 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 Saltwater 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 porosus
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 Saltwater crocodile

In other languages
Crocodylus porosus (es), Crocodile d'estuaire (fr), krokodyl różańcowy (pl), Крокодил гребенястий (uk), תנין הים (he), bordás krokodil (hu) … and 28 more languages

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

See all 14 videos →
Graphic clips stay hidden unless you pick Graphic.
Tools

Compare the Saltwater crocodile

Pick a tool — the Saltwater crocodile is already selected.