page_title: Crocodile attack
section_title: Species involved in attacks
hierarchical_section_title: Crocodile attack / Species involved in attacks
caption_attribution_description: Nile River.
context_page_description: Crocodile attacks on humans are common in places where large crocodilians are native and human populations live. Less than half of the 25 crocodilian species have been involved in fatal attacks on humans, and only crocodilians about 2.5 metres in length or more represent a serious danger to humans, as smaller crocodilians are considered incapable of killing adults. However, even the smallest species can inflict painful bites requiring stitches. In addition, a small child may be of a similar size to the prey of some of the crocodilian species incapable of preying on adult humans. It has been estimated that about 1,000 people are killed by crocodilians each year.
context_section_description: The two species with the most well-known and documented reputation for preying on humans are the Nile crocodile and saltwater crocodile, and these are the perpetrators of the vast majority of both fatal and non-fatal crocodilian attacks. Each year, hundreds of deadly attacks are attributed to the Nile crocodile in Sub-Saharan Africa. Attacks by saltwater crocodiles often occur in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. Reviews indicate that at least half of all attacks by the Nile and saltwater crocodiles are fatal (in Australia, however, only about 25% of saltwater crocodile attacks are fatal). The mugger crocodile is also very dangerous to humans, killing several people in India every year and with a fatality rate (slightly less than half of all attacks are fatal) that is almost as high. Unlike the predatory attacks by Nile and saltwater crocodiles, victims of mugger crocodiles are often not eaten, indicating that many attacks by this species are territorial or defensive rather than predatory. Crocodilians will defend not only themselves, but also their nest and young from anything they perceive as a threat.
  Eight other species have been involved in fatal attacks on humans, but in far lower numbers than the Nile, saltwater and mugger crocodiles, and also with significantly lower fatality rates (a higher percentage of their attacks are non-fatal). These are the West African crocodile (often considered quite harmless, but has been involved in several attacks, also fatal), American crocodile (only a few documented fatalities), the Morelet's crocodile (typically considered a relatively non-threatening species, but there have been several fatal attacks), Orinoco crocodile (fatalities recorded in the 1930s and earlier when the species was more common, but today it is very rare), Cuban crocodile (generally considered aggressive, but only one confirmed fatality), black caiman (fatal attacks confirmed in Brazil, but possibly underreported because of its remote range), American alligator (an estimated 6% of attacks are fatal), and false gharial (only a few confirmed fatalities, all involving very large false gharials).
  In addition to these, the freshwater crocodile, Philippine crocodile, Siamese crocodile, broad-snouted caiman, spectacled caiman, yacare caiman and gharial have been involved in non-fatal attacks. Four of them, the Siamese crocodile, broad-snouted caiman, spectacled caiman and yacare caiman, each are suspected to have been the perpetrator of a single fatal attack on a child (smaller and therefore a more likely target than an adult), but the exact species identity in these cases is not entirely certain.
caption: Makeshift barrier in Uganda to lessen the risk of Nile crocodile attacks
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