Animal · Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania
Nile crocodile
Crocodylus niloticus — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The Nile crocodile is Africa's largest crocodile and one of the continent's most feared predators, lying in wait at rivers and waterholes. It is found across most of sub-Saharan Africa.
Picture credit: Bernard DUPONT (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Bernard DUPONT (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Zachi Evenor (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the nile crocodile live?
Home: Rivers, lakes and wetlands across sub-Saharan Africa.
In the wild you find it in: Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt, Mozambique.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures Males up to 5 m long. It weighs about 410 kilograms. On the menu: meat.
The story behind it
Nile crocodiles are patient ambush hunters, staying almost completely still in the water for hours with only their eyes and nostrils showing, waiting for animals such as wildebeest or zebra to come down to drink. They famously gather in large numbers at river crossings during the Great Migration in East Africa, where herds of wildebeest must cross crocodile-filled waters to reach fresh grazing. Female Nile crocodiles guard their nest fiercely and, unusually for reptiles, carry their newly hatched young gently in their mouths down to the water. A Nile crocodile can go for months without eating after a large meal, thanks to a very slow metabolism, and can live for 70 years or more. Once heavily hunted for their skin, populations have recovered under legal protection and the species is now least concern.
Find it on the globe
Nile crocodile is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How do Nile crocodiles hunt?
Nile crocodiles hunt by ambush, floating almost motionless in the water with just their eyes and nostrils above the surface. They wait for an animal to come close to drink before lunging with explosive speed to grab it.
Do crocodile mothers care for their young?
Yes, female Nile crocodiles guard their nest for months and, when the eggs hatch, gently carry the babies in their mouth down to the water, then continue protecting them from predators for several more weeks.
How long can a Nile crocodile go without eating?
A Nile crocodile can survive for several months without a meal after eating something large, thanks to an extremely slow metabolism. This lets it cope with long dry seasons when prey is harder to find.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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