Broad-snouted caiman

Language English

Onglets

Description

Distinguishing features

The Broad-snouted Caiman is stocky and powerfully built, with a broad, short, rounded head. Its eyes and nostrils sit on top of the head, an adaptation to its semi-aquatic lifestyle.

Its robust body is covered with thick bony plates called osteoderms, which provide effective protection. Its colour ranges from olive-brown to dark grey, with paler bands that are especially noticeable in young individuals.

Females are distinctly smaller than males.

Reproduction

Breeding takes place during the warm season, between November and January, across the species’ range. The female builds a mound nest of vegetation, mud, and organic debris, where she lays 20 to 50 eggs in two overlapping layers. The heat produced by the decomposition of organic matter influences the sex of the young.

During the 65- to 75-day incubation period, the female actively guards the nest. She helps the young broad-snouted caimans hatch and escorts them to the water, offering temporary protection from predators.

For the first few weeks, the female stays close to her brood and keeps it together through guarding behaviour, which helps protect the young from predators such as birds, fish, and mammals. She does not feed them directly, but provides a safe environment in which to explore.

Females reach sexual maturity at about 5 years of age, while males do so between 4 and 6 years.

Diet

The broad-snouted caiman is an opportunistic carnivore. Young individuals feed mainly on insects, crustaceans, and small fish, while adults eat fish, amphibians, molluscs (especially snails), small reptiles, and occasionally small mammals.

Its snout, broader and shorter than that of other crocodilians, is especially well adapted for crushing shells and carapaces. It also helps the caiman capture prey more easily in marshy habitats where aquatic vegetation is very dense.

Predators

Adults have few natural predators because of their size and protective armour. Eggs and juveniles, however, are vulnerable to a range of predators, including crab-eating raccoons, crab-eating foxes, snakes, large fish, and piscivorous birds such as herons, jabirus, caracaras, and ospreys.

Humans remain the main threat, particularly through habitat destruction.

Habitat

This large reptile inhabits a variety of freshwater environments, including marshes, lagoons, ponds, slow-moving rivers, and flooded areas. It is also found in artificial ponds used for livestock. Its tolerance of changing water conditions allows it to live near agricultural and urban areas, as well as in mangroves, coastal forests shaped by saltwater and tides.

It occurs in suitable habitats of the Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland in the world, in the Paraguay and Paraná river basins to the south, and in the São Francisco River basin in northeastern Brazil.

The broad-snouted caiman’s dark colour absorbs more heat, helping it regulate its body temperature. This allows it to live in temperate climates and at elevations of up to 600 metres. Such habitats are not suitable for other crocodilian species.

Ecology, behaviour

The broad-snouted caiman is mainly active at night. To regulate its body temperature, it spends the day basking on riverbanks or in shallow water. Rather discreet, it plays a key role in stabilizing populations of fish and aquatic invertebrates. Its wild population is estimated at around 500,000 individuals.

Its main threats are waterway contamination from mining, deforestation, and the construction of hydroelectric dams, which disrupt the movements of aquatic species.

French name

Caïman à museau large

Scientific name

Caiman latirostris

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Crocodilia

Family

Alligatoridae

Size

Up to 3.5 m

Weight

Up to 90 kg

Life span

Up to 58 years in captivity

Status

Common species

At the Biodôme

A male and a female share their own pool in the Tropical Rainforest ecosystem.

They usually coexist easily, except during feeding, which takes place once a week. At that time, they must be separated into different enclosures because they become very aggressive. Since the male is much larger than the female, he could injure her.

Menu header en

Languages

Space for life

About Us

Menu header Billetterie en

Global menu

Espace pour la vie App

The Green Pages

Indoor plants

Espace pour la vie Foundation

Espace pour la vie Foundation

Subscribe to the Naturally curious newsletter

School newsletter

Our institutions’ expertise

Research and conservation at Espace pour la vie