Spectacled Caiman

The spectacled caiman, Caiman crocodilus, also called the white or common caiman, is a crocodilian of the family Alligatoridae native to the Neotropics, named for a bony ridge between its eyes resembling spectacles, and holding the largest range of any caiman species across seventeen countries in Latin America, with introduced populations in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Florida. A small to medium crocodilian, it measures 1.4 to 2.5 meters and weighs 7 to 40 kilograms, males larger than females, with brownish, greenish or yellowish-gray skin marked by dark crossbands, an enlarged fourth tooth and a moderately tapered snout. It inhabits forests, wetlands, rivers, grasslands, shrublands and savannas with calm water and floating vegetation, hunts mainly at night for crabs, fish, small mammals, amphibians and snails, breeds from May through August with females laying 14 to 40 eggs, and is classified as Least Concern due to a large, stable population.