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Nile Crocodile Profile
The Nile crocodile has a somewhat deserved reputation as a vicious man-eater. The proximity of much of its habitat to people means run-ins are frequent.
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Nile crocodiles are carnivorous. In the wild, adult Nile crocodiles will eat anything they can catch. The crocodile will lie in wait at watering holes and attack prey that come to drink.
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Nile crocodiles are ecologically important as predators. They help the environment by keeping barbel catfish, which are predators themselves, in check. Barbels eat other fishes which are the diet of more than 40 species of birds.
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Nile crocodiles live in rivers, marshes, lakes and ponds. They remain in the same territory throughout their entire life, only moving if their homes dry up. They can be seen living alone or in small groups of similar sized crocodiles. Likes to Eat: ...
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Nile crocodile: Crocodylus niloticus
Distribution: Madagascar, Egypt and central Africa, south to Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Habitat: Mainly large rivers, lakes, waterholes and wetlands; also estuaries and mangrove swamps.
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Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus): Growing ten feet or longer, this stealthy reptile ambushes large animals-including giraffes-when they settle down to drink.
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The Nile crocodile sometimes eats stones--they help the crocodile stay on the bottom of the river or water hole when it stalks its prey.
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The Nile crocodile makes a hole in white sand, which is then filled up and smoothed over; the mother sleeps upon the nest, and keeps watch over her eggs, and when these are near hatching - af ter about twelve weeks - she removes the 18 in. or 2 ft.
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The Nile crocodile (C. niloticus) is found in fresh- and saltwater throughout S and central Africa. In early historic times it ranged N to the Nile delta and the Mediterranean coast. It sometimes attacks humans, as does the saltwater crocodile (C.
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For example, Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) control the barbel catfish population. If crocodiles were hunted to extinction, the voracious catfish could wipe out other fish populations, which are food sources to more than 40 species of birds.
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Some species are endangered due to habitat destruction such as the Nile crocodile whose nesting areas along the river are disrupted by boat traffic.
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One species of bird called the Crocodile Bird wanders freely among the basking Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus), picking leeches and parasites from their skins, and food fragments from their mouths.
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The Saltwater and Nile crocodiles are the most dangerous, killing hundreds of people each year in parts of South-East Asia and Africa. American alligators, Mugger crocodiles and possibly the endangered Black Caiman, are also very dangerous to humans.
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The man eaters of the crocodile family live in parts of Asia and North Australia and tropical Pacific islands and the Nile crocodile, was worshiped to and embalmed by some ancient Egyptians.
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Nile crocodiles, along with Lions and Spotted Hyenas, may prey on young hippos.[50] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans and are often considered one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.
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It was the largest and strongest bird of prey of prehistoric Madagascar and together with the Greater Fossa and the Nile crocodile the apex predators on the island.
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Typically, as with the Nile crocodile, it is the female that performs these duties, but in some species the male will be involved as well, as is the case with the mugger crocodile.Alderton, D.
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 See also: Crocodile, Reptile, Alligator, Lizard, Caiman
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