African slender-snouted Crocodile

Facts

IUCN DATA DEFICIENT (DD)

Facts about this animal

The snout of this Crocodile is very long and slender, 2.5 to 3.5 times as long as broad at the level of the front corners of the eyes; at least 5 times as long as broad at the level of the nasal swelling. The surface is smooth, without bony ridges or unpaired elevated areas in front of the eyes. The upper body surface is dark olive in old animals and somewhat lighter and with dark blotches in young ones. The lower surface is light and with dark blotches, at least on both sides. There are large dark blotches or nearly uniformly black ones on the surface of the tail. Juveniles as well as adults have 4 to 5 dark blotches on each side of the lower jaw. The iris is bronzy brownish. The African slender-snouted Crocodile can grow up to a length of 4.2 m, but is usually about 2.5 m.

The slender-snouted crocodile is a highly aquatic species and is found primarily in river habitats with dense vegetation cover. It can also be found in large lakes. The main bulk of their diet is fish, they hunt by swimming parallel to the river bank, curving their tail and trapping the fish in the shallows. Younger crocs tend to feed on invertebrates, whereas older individuals will feed on crabs, shrimps, frogs, fish, birds and small mammals.

Did you know?
that slender-snouted crocodiles have 64-70 teeth in total?

Factsheet
Class	REPTILIA
Order	CROCODYLIA
Suborder	EUSUCHIA
Family	CROCODYLIDAE
Name (Scientific)	Crocodylus cataphractus
Name (English)	African slender-snouted Crocodile
Name (French)	Crocodile à museau allongé d Afrique
Name (German)	Panzerkrokodil
Name (Spanish)	Cocodrilo hociquifino africano
CITES Status	Appendix I
CMS Status	Not listed

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Distribution

Distribution
Range	Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia (ex?), Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau (ex?), Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal (ex?), Sierra Leone, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia
Habitat	Riverine areas, lakes and ponds with dense vegetation
Wild population	Largely unknown, due to the lack of data. Inded little is known about its status and way of living in nature. Since its skin is strongly ossified it cannot be used commercially, which excludes ranching projects that could contribute to he conservation of the species. Main threat today is the bushmeat trade.
Zoo population	47 reported to ISIS

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

For air transport, Container Note 42 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

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Thesupermat

Why do zoos keep this animal

As an inhabitant of the rainy forest C. cataphractus represents a keystone species for this habitat, with educational potential. It is also an interesting crocodilian due to its reproductive behaviour (it builds a hill-nest from plant material). Although breeding has been recorded in zoos, C. cataphractus is kept however only occasionally.

How this animal should be kept

A spacious, well structured enclosure with basking sites, natural vegetation and sufficient hiding places is recommended. The surrounding fence or moat needs to be strong and have substantial foundations as crocodilians are very good at digging. In temperate or colder climatic zones keeping outdoors may, however, be possible at best during the summer period.

Mostly, the animals will have to be kept in indoor facilities where the following minimum standards should apply: For a pair of adults an enclosure with no less than 12 m² land and 15 m² water surface is required, for each additional adult both, land and water part, are to be enlarged by 3 m². Average water depth 80 cm. The landpart should be structured e.g. by logs, the floor should be covered with sand or gravel. Floor temperature locally 35 ºC (floor heating), air temperature 24-30 ºC, water temperature 24-26 ºC. Humidity 60-80 %. Light phase 12-14 h per day, HQI lamps. Daily ultraviolet irradiation. During the reproduction period foliage should be provided as nesting material.