By: Keegan Bereis
Description
Species- Crocodylus moreletii
Animal-Reptile
Size-8ft
Color-Lighter and darker shades of brown
Life span-50 to 60 years in the wild, 80 years in captivity
Distinctive features-generally timid, they may use vocal signals a lot to communicate to one another. Juveniles and newborns usually give off alarm calls when threatened, and Morelet’s crocodiles are generally more vocal than most crocodiles.
Pictures
Habitat
Geological location- Southeastern Mexico, Belize, and Northern Guatemala
These crocodiles live in rivers, lakes, coastal lagoons, wells, and water holes with floating plant life such as algae. They can also be found on the savanna with freshwater canals. During the rainy season in areas of savanna, the crocodiles will separate and spread over all the large newly-flooded areas. When the rainy season ends, they will come back together.
Niche- Top predator: Morelet’s crocodiles are one of the top predators in their environments. They keep the population of smaller animals such as fish in check. This keeps the population of what the crocodiles eat in check. If there are not enough crocodiles, the smaller animals will overrun the ecosystem, and eat all the insects and plants. This causes a huge decrease in population of the insects and plants, and maybe even extinction, then once those are gone, there is a huge die-off of the smaller animals because there is no food left for them. Therefore, these crocodiles have an important role in their ecosystems.
Food sources - Morelet’s crocodiles are predators, and their food sources include-
Adults-
Fish
Small mammals
Birds
Reptiles
Crabs
Sometimes domestic animals such as goats and dogs if they can catch them.
Youth-
Insects
Aquatic invertebrates (swimming things without spines)
And occasionally they will snag some off the things on the adult food menu
Population Status
The Morelet crocodile was considered close-to-extinction before 2000. Before 1981, this crocodile was hunted a lot for its leather hide, especially its soft belly skin that makes high-quality leather. However, in 1981, under the Wildlife Protection Act, the population made a comeback. The population is still considered as threatened with extinction today, but it has rebounded since the 20th century.
Cultural & Economic Significance
This crocodile didn’t and doesn't really have a lot of cultural significance, but it did have a lot of economic significance before poaching was banned. The poachers would kill the crocodile for its skin, and sell the skin for a profit, leading to the crocodile having economic ties because it provided income for many poachers.
Interesting story
2 Mexican conservationists, Alexis Acuña and Gonzalo Merediz Alonso do work for the conservation of Morelet’s crocodiles in southern Mexico. They did a video that is on the national geographic on how to “lasso” these crocodiles. Apparently these crocodiles are so shy, that these two jump into the water with them at 3AM, and try to lasso them in the water, as their legs are exposed to the crocodile's mighty jaws that can crush bone with their immense bite pressure. The crocodiles have never bit them, they say...
Sources
https://www.lamar.edu/arts-sciences/biology/jungle-critters/jungle-critters-2/morelets-crocodile.html
http://www.belizezoo.org/reptiles/crocodile.html