Orinoco Crocodile

The Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius) is a critically endangered crocodile restricted to the middle and lower Orinoco River basin of Venezuela and Colombia, where it inhabits the seasonal rivers and savanna wetlands of the Llanos. It is among the largest living reptiles and the largest predator in the Americas, with mature males today typically reaching around 3.6 to 4.1 meters, though historical accounts describe far larger individuals before extensive hunting for its skin in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries collapsed the population. It has a comparatively long, narrow snout and pale tan coloring with dark markings, and feeds mainly on fish along with birds, mammals, and other reptiles. The wild population is estimated at only a few hundred to about fifteen hundred individuals, and the IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered.