Crocodiles
Crocodiles are lizard-like amphibians, having a unique body that includes a long, bushy tail, thick skin, powerful jaws with many teeth, and short legs with webbed fingers.
Alligators are carnivores. Crocodiles prefer to live in warm environments, such as lakes and swamps, and can be found on the continents of Africa, America, Asia, and Australia. It is worth noting that crocodile fossils have been discovered dating back 200 million years to the late Triassic period.
We'll delve deeper into alligators in the following sections.
Senses of a crocodile
Crocodiles are more closely related to dinosaurs than most other reptiles, and they are the most biologically complex of reptiles. It has a four-chambered heart, as well as powerful senses such as the following:
- Crocodiles have sensory devices known as pressure dome receptors that cover both the upper and lower jaws through sensory pits as small black spots on the skin, and they contain nerve fibers capable of responding to the smallest disturbance in surface water, allowing the crocodile to detect prey, danger, and intruders even in complete darkness.
- Hearing: Because their tympanic membranes are concealed by flat flaps that may be raised or lowered by muscles, alligators can hear effectively.
- Crocodiles have a so-called third eye cover in the inner corner of their eyes, which protects them underwater while allowing them to maintain some vision. They also have good night vision, thanks to the back wall of the eye, or the so-called transparent carpet, which reflects the light out through the retina, allowing them to take advantage of the amount of light available at night.
- Smell: The crocodile's olfactory system allows it to detect both airborne and water-soluble compounds, which aids in the detection of animal or prey carcasses on land or in water from afar.
Crocodiles and humans have a symbiotic relationship.
The crocodile is one of the most deadly creatures to humans because of its capacity to strike and attack before the other party can react, as evidenced by the hundreds of people killed each year by saltwater crocodiles in Southeast Asia and Africa, as well as the most lethal Nile crocodiles.
Crocodiles, on the other hand, are kept in reserves and exploited commercially, especially for the exploitation of their tough skins.
Some peoples, such as Vietnam and the Western world, use crocodile meat to make various leather products such as handbags, shoes, belts, and hats, while others, such as Australia, Ethiopia, Thailand, South Africa, China, and Cuba, cook crocodile meat in the form of pickled crocodile meat, and others use crocodile oil for various purposes.