The
black caiman is a crocodilian. It is a carnivorous
reptileReptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
that lives along slow-moving
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s and
lakeA lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
s, in the seasonally flooded
savannaA savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
s of the
Amazon basinThe Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
, and in other
freshwaterFresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
habitats in
South AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Once common, it was hunted to near extinction primarily for its commercially valuable hide. It is now listed as
Conservation DependentConservation Dependent was an IUCN category assigned to species or lower taxa which were dependent on conservation efforts to prevent the taxon becoming threatened with extinction...
.
Appearance
The black caiman has a bony ridge over brown eyes, and black,
scalyIn most biological nomenclature, a scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration...
skin. The skin coloration helps with
camouflageCamouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...
during its nocturnal hunts, but may also help absorb heat (
See thermoregulationThermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different...
). Mothers on guard near their nests are tormented by blood-sucking flies that gather around their vulnerable eyes leaving them bloodshot.
Small black caiman can be distinguished from large
spectacled caimanThe spectacled caiman , also known as the white caiman or common caiman, is a crocodilian reptile found in much of Central and South America. It lives in a range of lowland wetland and riverine habitat types and can tolerate salt water as well as fresh; due in part to this adaptability it is the...
by their proportionately larger head and shorter tail, as well as by the color of the jaw, which is light colored in the spectacled caiman and dark with three black spots in the black caiman.
Size
The black caiman is one of the largest
reptileReptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s. It is the largest predator in the
Amazon basinThe Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
and possibly the largest member of the family
AlligatoridaeAlligatoridae is a family of crocodylians that includes alligators and caimans.- True alligators :Alligators proper occur in the fluvial deposits of the age of the Upper Chalk in Europe, where they did not die out until the Pliocene age. The true alligators are now restricted to two species, A...
. Most adult black caimans are 3 to 4.26 m (9.8 to 14 ft) in lengths, with old males rarely growing larger than 5 metres (16.4 ft). The black caiman broadly overlaps in size with the
American alligatorThe American alligator , sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator, is a reptile endemic only to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two living species of alligator, in the genus Alligator, within the family Alligatoridae...
, although it is on average larger at maturity. In some areas (such as the
Araguaia RiverThe Araguaia River or, in Portuguese, Rio Araguaia is one of the major rivers of Brazil, and the principal tributary of the Tocantins. It has a total length of approximately 2,627 km. Araguaia means "river of macaws" in the Tupi language....
) this species is consistently reported at 4 to 5 m (13.1 to 16.4 ft) in length, much larger than the alligator (which rarely even reaches 4 meters). Several unconfirmed sources report that the black caiman can grow to 6 metres (19.7 ft) or more. It is, however, the third largest crocodilian in South America behind the
American CrocodileThe American crocodile is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas. Populations occur from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of southern Mexico to South America as far as Peru and Venezuela. It also lives...
and
Orinoco CrocodileThe Orinoco crocodile, Crocodylus intermedius, is a critically endangered crocodile found in freshwater in northern South America, in particular the Orinoco River. Typical measurements for adults range from 3 to 4.8 m . Typical weight for mature females is 200 kg and 380 kg for males...
.
Diet
Immature specimens eat
crustaceanCrustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s and
insectInsects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s but quickly graduate to eating
fishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, including
piranhaA piranha or piraña is a member of family Characidae in order Characiformes, an omnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers. In Venezuela, they are called caribes...
s,
catfishCatfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
, and
perchPerch is a common name for fish of the genus Perca, freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which there are three species in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Perciformes, from the Greek perke meaning spotted, and the...
, which remain the primary food source for all black caiman. Various prey will be taken by opportunity, includes
turtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s,
birdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s and
mammalMammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s, the latter two mainly when they come to drink at the river banks. Larger specimens can take tapirs,
anacondaAn anaconda is a large, non-venomous snake found in tropical South America. Although the name actually applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species in particular, the common or green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, which is one of the largest snakes in the world.Anaconda...
s,
deerDeer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
and
capybaraThe capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
.
JaguarThe jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
s are a known predator of all other caiman species as well as juvenile black caimans, but mature black caimans likely have no natural predators, as is true of other similarly-sized crocodilian species (given the size, weight and immense biting strength). Their teeth are designed to grab but not rip, so they generally try to swallow their food whole after drowning it. Their main predator is humans, who hunt them for leather or meat. There are tales of this species devouring humans and given its size this is probable, although (like the critically endangered, but potentially dangerous
Orinoco CrocodileThe Orinoco crocodile, Crocodylus intermedius, is a critically endangered crocodile found in freshwater in northern South America, in particular the Orinoco River. Typical measurements for adults range from 3 to 4.8 m . Typical weight for mature females is 200 kg and 380 kg for males...
of
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
) it is very unlikely humans have been attacked in modern times, due in part to the species' low population - and given that most man-eaters in other crocodilian species tend to be large adult males, this further reduces the probability.
Reproduction
At the end of the dry season, females build a
nestA nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
of
soilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
and vegetation, which is about 1.5 meters (5 ft) across and 0.75 meters wide (2.5 ft). They lay up to 60
eggsAn egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
, which hatch in about six weeks, at the beginning of the wet season, when newly-flooded marshes provide ideal habitat for the juveniles. Unguarded clutches are quickly devoured by a wide range of animals. It is well documented that, as with other crocodilians, caimans frequently move their young from the nest in their mouths after hatching (whence the belief that they eat their young), and transport them to a safe pool. The mother will assist chirping, unhatched young to break out of the leathery eggs, by delicately breaking the eggs between her teeth. She will look after her young for several months. The female black caiman only breeds once every 2 to 3 years.
In fiction
The black caiman is mentioned in
Matthew ReillyMatthew John Reilly is an Australian action thriller writer. His novels are noted for their fast pace, twisting plots and intense action.- Biography :...
's best selling book
Temple, where they are constantly eating people that fall in the water. It also was featured rather prominently in
Amazonia by
James Rollins* For the American baseball pitcher, see Jim Czajkowski* For the American baseball shortstop, see Jimmy Rollins* For the 19th century American politician from Missouri, see James S. Rollins...
wherein a special forces soldier is eaten by a black caiman after it capsizes the inflatable boat in which he is riding.
External links