Marsh crocodile   Basking in the sun🐊

Photo: Karunakar Rayker · CC BY-SA 2.0

SpeciesCrocodylidae
Reptiles

🐊Indus Crocodile

Crocodylus palustris (Lesson, 1831)

The mugger crocodile is a medium-sized broad-snouted crocodile, also known as mugger and marsh crocodile. It is native to freshwater habitats from south-eastern Iran to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits marshes, lakes, rivers and artificial ponds. It rarely reaches a body length of 5 m and is a powerful swimmer, but also walks on land in search of suitable waterbodies during the hot season. Both young and adult mugger crocodiles dig burrows to which they retreat when the ambient temperature drops below 5 °C (41 °F) or exceeds 38 °C (100 °F). Females dig holes in the sand as nesting sites and lay up to 46 eggs during the dry season. The sex of hatchlings depends on temperature during incubation. Both parents protect the young for up to one year. They feed on insects, and adults prey on fish, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
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Also called
Mugger, Broad-snouted Crocodile, Marsh Crocodile, Muggar
Conservation status
VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 2013.

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

Everything we know about the Indus Crocodile

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

Body mass
43 kgrecord 450 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
5 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

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

Maximum lifespan
44 yearsrecord 40 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

Volume l
43 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 Indus 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 palustris
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 Indus Crocodile

In other languages
Crocodylus palustris (es), Crocodile des marais (fr), krokodyl błotny (pl), 沼泽鳄 (zh), תנין הביצות (he), 늪지악어 (ko) … and 23 more languages
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