The Nile crocodile with its reputation as a vicious man eater (estimation of nearly 200 people per year) is native to Africa and the largest freshwater predator found in lakes, marshlands and rivers.
They reach 3-5 meters in length and weighs anything between 200kg-720kg. The NIle crocodile can get as old as 48 years. Lolong from the Philippines was the world’s largest crocodile in captivity, measuring over 6m in length, weighing 1 070kg and about 50 years old.
The younger crocs feast on small aquatic invertebrates (fish, amphibians and reptiles) and the adults enjoy the larger vertebrates (buck, hippo and buffalo). Crocodiles can go without food for as long as 2 years due to the fact that their bodies can store the energy from their large meals and they can remain motionless for a long amount of time saving that energy.
Females lay between 30-65 eggs in nests of 60cm deep a few metres from the water in sandy soil, here they incubate for 80-100 days, after which the females carry the hatchlings to the water.