Order: Crocodilia
Family: Crocodylidae
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.
Size: Average 3.5m, but up to 5.5m.
Description: A long body armoured with bony plates set in the skin of the back; long deep-sided tail, short limbs and long-snouted skull.
Lifespan: Ages of over 56 years have been recorded. Estimated to live 70 - 100 years. Some have lived even longer. Having resided in the Australia Zoo as one of its oldest residents, Mr Freshie was a freshwater crocodile that lived to be 140 years old making him the oldest known crocodile to ever be put in captivity.
Diet: Mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and carrion.
There are between 5 000 - 6 000 species of reptiles in the world today, and of these 23 are crocodilians. One family of crocodilians includes the crocodiles, alligators and caimans - Crocodylidae; the second family, Gavialidae, has only one member - the gharial or gavial (a very narrow-snouted crocodile).
Crocodilians are the closest surviving relatives of the great dinosaurs and they have changed very little during the 150 million years that they have lived on Earth!
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