Gharial

True Wild Life | Gharial | The gharial is a large-sized reptile found in the murky waters of Northern India and the surrounding countries. The gharial is closely related to other large reptiles including caimans and alligators, although the salt-water crocodile is believed to be the gharial's closest relative. The gharial is most commonly found in the calmer areas of the deep, fast-flowing rivers of the North Indian subcontinent. The gharial spends most of its time in the water as it is not well suited for a life on the land, due to its short legs.

The gharial (along with the larger adult salt-water crocodiles) is the longest of this group of large reptiles, with there having been reports of adult male gharials reaching more than six meters in length. The elongated snout of the gharial is ideal for catching fish in the water, and contains more than 50 sharp teeth. The gharial is a generally solitary predator and does not have the same terrifying reputation for eating humans as crocodiles do. Although the gharial has been known to show aggressive behaviour towards humans at times, the shape of the gharial's snout makes it difficult for the gharial to consume anything too big.

The gharial is a carnivorous animal and a dominant predator within its environment. The only time that this isn't the case is when the gharial share its territory with a large salt-water crocodile. Fish is the primary food of the gharial along with insects and occasionally small animals. Due to its large size, the gharial has no natural predators within its environment besides humans who hunt the gharial, often for leather or meat. The gharial has also been devastatingly affected by the increasingly levels of pollution in the water and is today considered to be critically endangered in the wild.

The female gharial makes their nests and lay their eggs during the dry season when the river shrinks exposing more the sand on the river banks. The female gharial lays between 30 and 50 eggs which are buried in a whole in the sand by her. The baby gharial emerge from the underground nest after a few months and are protected in the water by their mother for a few days, until they are able to fend for themselves.

Crocodile

True Wild Life | Crocodile | Crocodiles are one of the planets oldest living creatures, thought to be around 200 million years old which means that crocodiles were around in dinosaur times. Crocodiles live throughout the watery tropics of Africa, Asia, America and Australia, congregating in freshwater environments in the worlds lakes and rivers. Crocodiles feed on fish, reptiles and mammals, the prey size generally dependent on the size of the crocodile.

Legend has it that if you are being chased by a crocodile, the only chance you have of getting away is by outsmarting the crocodile. Apparently the way to do this is to run away from the crocodile diagonally down a hill! The myth says that crocodiles have a very slow turning circle meaning that if you run diagonally, the crocodile theoretically cant catch you!

As crazy as it sounds, crocodiles are known to swallow stones when they are on the banks of the water. The crocodile does this to not only help its digestive system but also to aid the crocodiles water buoyancy. It is thought that by swallowing stones, the crocodile may also be able to swim to deeper parts of the water.

The crocodile is also unable to stick out its tongue (probably from all those stones in the crocodiles stomach)! The crocodile is able to regrow new teeth very quickly after losing the old ones, throughout the crocodiles life.

Caiman

True Wild Life | Caiman | The caiman is a large aquatic reptile found in the swamps and tropical rivers that cover Central and South America. Although the caimans have much narrower bodies, they are most closely related to alligators and crocodiles. Caimans are found in a variety of habitats throughout Central and South America from marshes and swamps to mangrove rivers and lakes. As with other reptiles, caimans have scaly skin and live a fairly nocturnal existence.

Caimans range in size from the dwarf caiman which measures just over a meter in length, to the black caiman which can to grow to be nearly 5 meters long. The black caiman is the largest caiman species in the world and is found in the slow-moving rivers and lakes that surround the Amazon basin. There are six different species of caiman found throughout the watery, jungle habitats of Central and Southern America. The average length for most of the other caiman species if about 2.5 meters long.

The caiman is a carnivorous predators and, like the alligator and the crocodile, the caiman has a diet that consists of a great deal of fish. The caiman also hunts insects, birds and small mammals and reptiles. Due to the large size and ferocious nature of the caiman, it has few natural predators within its environment. Humans are the main predators of the caiman as they have been hunted for their meat and skin. Jaguars are the only other predator of the caiman.

Female caimans build a large nest in which to lay their eggs, which can be more than 1.5 meters wide. Female caimans lay between 10 and 50 eggs which hatch within about 6 weeks. Once they have hatched, the mother caiman takes her young to a shallow pool of water where they can learn how to hunt and swim.

Alligator

True Wild Life | Alligator | Alligators are in the same family as crocodiles but are native to only two countries, which are the USA and China. Alligators tend to be smaller than their crocodile cousins but have been known to move at speeds of up to 30mph on land making them one of the fastest large reptiles in the world. Alligators tend to live to about 50 years old or so but some have been known to live at least another 20 years when in captivity. Alligator DNA is thought to date back to even before Dinosaur times meaning that the alligators survived whatever it was that the dinosaurs didn't!

The Alligator is generally a solitary predator, but smaller species of alligator however, are known to stay together in groups especially when hunting. The Alligator eats fish, small mammals and birds, but the alligator has also been known to attack much larger animals.

The American alligators are found in the south-eastern USA, all of Florida and Louisiana, the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, coastal South and North Carolina, Eastern Texas, the south-eastern corner of Oklahoma and the southern tip of Arkansas. The majority of American alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana, with over a million alligators thought to inhabit each state.

The American alligators live in freshwater environments, such as ponds, marshes, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and swamps, as well as brackish environments. Southern Florida is the only place in the world where both alligators and crocodiles live in the same place.

The Chinese alligator is currently found only in the Yangtze River valley and the Chinese alligator is extremely endangered with less than 100 Chinese alligators believed to be left in the wild. There are many more Chinese alligators that live in zoos around the world than can be found in the wild.

Adult alligators have been known to hunt deer and are well known to kill and eat smaller alligators. In some cases, larger alligators have been known to hunt the Florida panther and black bears, making the alligator the dominant predator throughout the their environment.

Unlike large crocodiles, alligators do not immediately regard a human upon encounter as prey, but the alligator may still attack in self-defence if provoked. Alligator attacks are uncommon but alligators have definitely been known to attack humans if the human is in the alligator's territory.