Digital Dan:

You mention seeing crocs in south Florida. Are these caiman? (salt water crocs that go up fresh water rivers to spawn) I saw many in Cuba years ago so I guess they wouldn't have too much trouble finding Florida and a fresh water river. Yes, they really can get big and also can run like a race horse when headed for the water. (They laid eggs quite a distance from water. I saw females guarding nests as much as 75-100 feet from the bank of the river and when alarmed-like being shot at - they could pick up and run for the water with great speed, no waddling or limping along. They ran, raised up on legs!) I hope Florida takes steps to keep caiman from making themselves too much at home. My impression in those days in Cuba was that they are as dangerous as any African croc.

DigitalDan is referring to "American Crocodiles", not the scrawny little South American Caiman.

American croc, just like the Nile croc, can get huge 16'+.

ASS_CLOWN

If I may, crocodylus acutus is the American crocodile, not the Cuban.

Gerald,

The caiman I remember where all in the 4' to 8' category (most being 4' to 5') and looked like miniature crocs.

Follow the link. According to them the LARGEST caiman ever recorded as 3 meters or just shy of 10'.

The South American Caiman

Gators can reach 15' but that is rare, 10' - 12' is more common.

ASS_CLOWN

I did a search for American Croc. There are between 500 and 1200 in the wild in south FLA. Up from 200-400 about 20 years ago. They are apparently much less aggressive than their African and Australian counterparts. No recorded attacks on humans according to what I found. Good hunting. "D"

ASS Clown:

I'm not sure if you ever saw a live caiman when you refer to a "puny South Amerfican caiman". In Cuba, a long ways from South America I saw 10 foot caiman routinely. many ran to 12 feet. If you think that's "puny", all I can say is try and keep a leg away from him. I was in the Darien country of Panama and saw many caiman that were 12 feet in length. Are you, perhaps, mistaking the Panamanian alligator for a caiman? BTW, where in SA did you see caiman? I'm not picking a fight with you (I'm too old for that) Frankly, I must follow up on Nikudu's post and do some research but I always thought of caiman as a Caribbean and Panamanian isthmus critter. I'm ready to learn but, please, don't call a caiman "puny". They scared the wits out of me. Gee! What does that make me?

Once when I was a kid at the gator farm in Fla, I saw one of the american crocs that was either 19 or 20 feet. It was one of the largest in captivity as I remember. You sure don't hear about people getting eaten by them like in other parts of the world. As I recall there were not many left in the wild 30 years ago. It is one species that is not much talked about as to a comeback or going to the extremely endangered list. Anybody know? Good hunting. "D"

Nickudu:

Thanks for the info. I'll now go study up. I am always surprised how the Internet teaches me something I didn't know when I got up this morning!

Gerald, you'll find no better site than this: Crocodilians



It is suspected that there is some degree of interbreeding between the American & Cuban crocodiles, as the former's breeding season slightly overlaps the beggining of the latter. The Black Caiman or Orinoco, has been reported to hit 20 feet but I don't know of any real proof of that. There are many caiman species, most small to medium, but some are quite large. The territory of the Cuban is the smallest of all species of crocodilian and they have been in trouble for some time now. Without the influx of the American crocodile, resulting in the suspected interbreeding, it may have disappeared by now, due to a loss of habitat. If you want to get into the subject in depth, "Holmes" of AR, is the resident reptile expert, especially so, the crocodilians.

I saw a documentary where the professional nuisance animal control people in Florida find the illegally released caimans there to be more aggressive than the local gators. Although, not as big as the gators.

Gerald,

No I am not saying you are a liar. The caiman I have seen in Mexico and Venezuela follow closely to those described in the website I posted the link to.

Good luck with you search.

ASS_CLOWN

Nickudu:

Many thanks for the new link. I intend to sit down and really read up on this because Ass Clown pointed me also to an apparently respectable website that contradicted everything I saw about size. I only hope he doesn't think I'm a liar. I saw rather large caiman, bigger than 7-8 feet and I was in company of experienced people. I'll be reading up on caiman and I thank you for the references.

FWIW, I received the gator photos in an e-mail with the following text:

Quote:

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photos taken by a Forest Service guy on an assignment at the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina. Taken from a helicopter.

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But then, 90% of the email text that I receive with photos is wrong...


Rick.

Ass Clown:

First I want to express my thanks to you and Nikudu for not branding me a liar. It seems that the term "caiman" is more specialized than I realized. I heard the term in Cuba. I did not hear the term in Panama (Darien)where the word was "lagarto" which is only Spanish for "lizard" and applied to the whole range of alligators and crocodiles. On a hunch, I googled " Sea crocodile". I found the following listing (I'm not very good with a computer so I'll give the listing as it appears in Google. "ocean.com - Encyclopedia of the Sea - American crocodile". I clicked on it and it was a site for National Marine Sanctuaries. They state that the "American crocodile" reaches lengths between 8 and 16 feet. The range includes Central America and the Caribbean. To my surprise the weight can run between 500 and 1000 lbs which surprises me since the ones I saw were definitely narrower in girth than the African crocs I saw in Zimbabwe and I wouldn't have guessed at such weights.(I hasten to say I never saw a 16 footer but I did see several estimated at 12-14 feet and the one I shot at in Cuba (Lord! Is it nearly 50 years ago?)definitely was in that range.

My loose use of terminology caused the trouble and, again, my thanks and appreciation to you and Nikudu.