page_title: American crocodile
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: American crocodile / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: English: American crocodile found in Jamaica's Black River
context_page_description: The 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, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela.
  The habitat of the American crocodile consists largely of coastal areas. It is also found in river systems, but tends to prefer salinity, resulting in the species congregating in brackish lakes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, cays, and small islands. Other crocodiles also have tolerance to saltwater due to salt glands underneath the tongue, but the American crocodile is the only species other than the saltwater crocodile to commonly live and thrive in saltwater. They can be found on beaches and small island formations without any freshwater source, such as many cays and islets across the Caribbean. They are also found in hypersaline lakes; one of the largest known populations inhabits the Lago Enriquillo.
  The American is one of the larger crocodile species. Males can reach lengths of 6.1 m, weighing up to 907 kg. On average, mature males are more in the range of 2.9 to 4.1 m in length weighing up to about 400 kg.
context_section_description: The American crocodile is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas. It inhabits waters such as mangrove swamps, river mouths, fresh waters, and salt lakes, and can even be found at sea, hence its wide distribution throughout southern Florida, the Greater Antilles (excluding Puerto Rico ), Southern Mexico (including the Yucatán Peninsula), Central America, and the South American countries of Colombia and Ecuador. The American crocodile is especially plentiful in Costa Rica. One of its largest documented populations (the largest in the Caribbean) is in Lago Enriquillo, a hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic. The species has also been recorded in Jamaica, where it inhabits most of the swamps available, as well as brackish portions of rivers. American crocodiles have recently been sighted in Grand Cayman, leading experts to believe the species may be swimming from Cuba (which is home to a massive American crocodile population) and slowly repopulating Grand Cayman. In addition, an American crocodile/Cuban crocodile hybrid was recently discovered in the Cancún area of Mexico. The crocodile likely originated in the Zapata Swamp of Cuba (the only place where these wild hybrids exist) and swam to the Yucatán Peninsula. 
  The American crocodile's saline tolerance also allowed it to colonize limited portions of the United States (southern Florida). Contrary to popular misinformation, the presence of the American alligator is not the reason the American crocodile was unable to populate brackish waters north of Florida, but rather the climate. Within the United States, the American crocodile's distribution is generally limited to the southern tip of Florida, though at least two have been found as far north as the Tampa Bay area. The American alligator is one of the most cold-tolerant crocodilians on the planet, and it has evolved to be able to go into a state of torpor when water freezes, and sticking its snout out through a hole, limiting all activity except the occasional breath; it can remain in this state for many days. True crocodiles - all species in the genus Crocodylus - die if the water temperature gets below 16ºC.  
  The current US population, estimated at 2,000 and growing, is a sign of return to the northernmost portion of their range.  There were suspicions as early as 1829 by Rafinesque that there were more than just alligators in the state, but confirmation could not be acquired until 1869, when a specimen could be brought back for examination. Records show they were plentiful in areas like Key Largo, Miami Beach, and wherever there were the appropriate mangroves for nesting and foraging. However, at the end of the 19th century, hunting them for their leather became a cottage industry in South Florida, and beginning in 1910, habitat destruction commenced on a massive scale, with the construction of a railroad designed to connect the mainland with the Keys.  Crocodile hunters, who migrated to the upper Florida Keys before and after the railroad’s construction, nearly slaughtered every last crocodile in northeast Florida Bay for the commercial market.  The carnage did not cease until the 1970s: at one point in that decade, there were less than thirty total nests counted. As of 2020, further population seems to be expanding south to reclaim former habitat in the Florida Keys, where numbers are multiplying quickly, and old records indicate they once inhabited mangroves as far north as Tampa Bay.
  The crocodiles that inhabit the United States coexist with the American alligator, and are primarily found south of the latitude of Miami, in Everglades National Park, Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, Dry Tortugas National Park and the Florida Keys. A sizable population occurs near Homestead, at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station. Some individuals have been sighted in Palm Beach, Pinellas and Sarasota counties. In the summer of 2008, an American crocodile was captured in the surf on Isle of Palms, South Carolina. 
  The American crocodile is saltwater-tolerant, and have thus been capable o
caption: American crocodile found in Jamaica's Black River
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