page_title: Yacare caiman
section_title: Distribution and conservation
hierarchical_section_title: Yacare caiman / Distribution and conservation
caption_attribution_description: English: Caiman (Caiman yacare). Photographed in Argentina by Lea Maimone.
context_page_description: The yacare caiman, also known commonly as the jacare caiman, Spanish 'yacaré', Paraguayan caiman, piranha caiman, red caiman, southern spectacled caiman, jacaré in Portuguese and îakaré in Old Tupi, is a species of caiman, a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae. The species is endemic to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Brown in color and covered with dark blotches, males grow to a total length of 2–3 metres and females to 1.4 metres. Typical habitats of this caiman include lakes, rivers, and wetlands. Its diet primarily consists of aquatic animals, such as snails, and occasionally land vertebrates. Mating occurs in the rainy season and eggs hatch in March, with young fending for themselves as soon as they hatch. The yacare caiman was hunted heavily for its skin to use for leather in the 1980s, which caused its population to decrease significantly. However, trading restrictions placed since have caused its population to increase. Its population in the Pantanal is about 10 million, and it is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.
context_section_description: The range of the yacare caiman includes Argentina (north), Bolivia, Brazil (south), and Paraguay. It is one of three species of genus Caiman in South America, the others being the broad-snouted caiman (C. latirostris) and the spectacled caiman (C. crocodilus), with more easterly and northerly ranges, respectively. The yacare caiman is one of the most common species on its continent.
  In the 1980s, the species was "heading for oblivion" due to frequently being hunted for its skin; hunters often went to water holes containing many yacare caimans and shot large numbers of them. They utilized the skin for leather and left the other parts of the carcasses at the water holes. Although the species is covered with bony osteoderms, which had previously made it uncommon to be hunted for leather, it has some less bony spots which can be used for leather. This practice caused the caiman's population to drop by the millions. In 1992, a ban was issued in Brazil that prohibited the trading of crocodilian skins. This resulted in a significant increase in its population, with about 10 million specimens living in the Pantanal alone as of 2013. Current threats of the yacare caiman include deforestation, tourism, construction of dams and seaports, and illegal hunting. The species reproduces quickly, which makes it less susceptible to hunting pressure.
  The IUCN Red List designated the yacare caiman a species of least concern in 1996. It is listed as threatened by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as of June 5, 2000, after having been listed as endangered since June 2, 1970. As of 2010, it is listed as an Appendix II species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
caption: In Formosa Province, Argentina
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