Range

Africa is the native home of the slender-snouted crocodile. Here they can be found in the following countries - Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

They are know to be extinct in Chad and may possibly be extinct in Benin, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia.

Habitat

African slender-snouted crocodiles are mostly found in forested rivers but they will also make use of other well-vegetated water bodies such as lagoons. They also make use of gallery forest within savanna woodland.

With the expansion of humans throughout their range they will make use of man made water bodies such as reservoirs.

They are only recorded in freshwater habitats.

Reproduction

African slender-snouted crocodiles come together in February and March to mate.

Females will lay their eggs at the beginning of the wet season. They build a mound of organic matter in to which they can deposit between 13 and 27 eggs. Relative to the size of the mother they lay large eggs.

These eggs incubate for between 90 and 100 days. During this time the vegetation in the mound will decay and this heats up the eggs. The female will stay close by during the incubation to ensure the eggs are safe.

At the end of the incubation the hatchlings will begin to chrip and the mother crocodile will dig the nest open and help the babies out of their eggs.

The female will watch the hatchlings for a short period till they are ready to survive on their own.

Hatchlings will feed on small fish and invertebrates.

Sexual maturity is reached between 10 and 15 years old.

Behavior

Slender snouted crocodiles are one of the few members of the crocodilian family which will climb trees.

These animals are considered one of the most vocal crocodilian species. They will growl and bellow at other crocodiles with a banging sounds which sounds like a car backfiring.

Predators and Threats

Natural predators of the African slender-snouted crocodile tend to only affect them when they are young. Hatchlings may be taken by soft-shell turtles. Adults are large enough to not have many predators.

Populations of the African slender-snouted crocodile have declined to a point where they are now considered extinct in some areas.

Humans have reduced their population through overfishing which reduces availability of the prey items they feed on, habitat modification and hunting for the bushmeat trade and for the crocodile skin trade.

Quick facts

Their species name 'cataphractus' translates as pebble worm, clad in armor.

This species is also known as the African gharial, long-nosed crocodile and African sharp-nosed crocodile.