Reptiles

cocodril d'estuari

jsangenis — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:04:42 +0000

Estuarine crocodile

This species can tolerate saltwater extremely well, and is found in estuaries, saltwater marshes and even on the open sea, which is why it is also called the marine and saltwater crocodile. Its area of distribution is extensive in all of Southeast Asia. The young feed on insects, amphibians, crustaceans and small reptiles, while adults eat all types of vertebrates. This crocodile obtains the largest size of all species, with lengths of six to seven metres and weights of over 1000 kg.

jsangenis Tue, 01/14/2025 - 11:04

Crocodylus porosus

Coasts of India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, northern Australia, New Guinea and small islands of the Pacific.

Degree of risk

Least Concern

Class

Reptilia

Order

Crocodylia

Family

Crocodylidae

500-1200kg

3-7m

40-50 years

Habitat

Fresh water

Social life

Solitary

Feeding

Carnivorous

Oviparous

Days

75-100

Baby

40-90 eggs

Description

This crocodile, with a large head and a very long muzzle, has ridges running from the eye orbits and along the snout. Its armour is not very ossified and a significant trait is the absence of large post-occipital scales. Colouring is highly variable, with four or five black bands that usually disappear on older individuals. The abdomen colour is solid, cream or golden yellow.

Habitat

They live in estuaries, marshes, lakes and saltwater bodies and are sometimes found at open sea.

Feeding

This opportunistic carnivore captures prey when they approach the water to drink. Then the crocodile surprises them, gripping them in its powerful jaws, then dragging them into the water to drown them. The young feed on insects, amphibians and small fish, while adults eat fish, amphibians, eggs, reptiles and mammals, both small and mid-sized. If there is no living prey around, it will also eat carrion. This species kills and devours several people every year.

Reproduction

The breeding period takes place during the wet season, between November and March, when the males defend their territory against other specimens. After mating, the female normally lays 40 to 60 eggs, even though this number can reach 90, in a nest buried underground and made with mud and plant matter. Given that the eggs are laid during the rainy season, the nests must be built at higher areas to prevent their loss from flooding. The female watches over the nest to protect it from predators during incubation and, after the babies hatch, she carries them to the water in her mouth. The gender is directly related to the temperature of the nest. Males are produced in the range from 30 to 32 degrees centigrade, while females are born if the temperature is higher or lower.

Conduct

This is the largest living reptile in the world, with specimens up to seven metres long and weighing over 1000 kg. It is closely related to the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) and has many similarities to this cousin, including their danger to humans. This crocodile can be exceptionally agile in the water, with swimming speeds up to 43 km/h and can launch itself up to four metres with a single switch of its tail. It is also quite fast on land, but only for short periods of time. This crocodile goes into the sea more often than any other, and has been spotted many times at large distances from firm land. A translucent protective membrane over each eye protects it while swimming, so it can see perfectly underwater. It can remain underwater for up to two hours, during which its metabolism slows down and its heartbeat changes, as this animal can direct blood almost exclusively to the life centre—or brain—while submerged,

Status and conservation programs

They have been intensively hunted throughout their area of distribution, because their skin has the highest quality. Thus, they appear to be at the point of extinction in Australia and other regions. However, with rational control of hunting and the establishment of breeding grounds to produce skin, not only has the species been saved, but today it is an abundant animals in certain regions of Australia and New Guinea, where the largest and most aggressive specimens are regularly controlled.

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Cocodril de Siam

atenea — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 21:23:28 +0000

Siamese crocodile

This crocodile lives in lowland topical fresh water environments in south-east Asia and Indonesia.

It is medium-sized, although males can reach up to 4 metres long, and is not generally considered dangerous for humans. It is one of the most endangered crocodiles in the wild, although it is quite populated in captivity, as it is bred to obtain its valuable hide.

atenea Sun, 12/11/2016 - 22:23

Crocodylus siamensis

Tailandia, Laos, Camboya, Vietnam, Malasia y algunas islas de Indonesia como Java y Borneo.

Degree of risk

Critically endangered

Class

Reptilia

Order

Crocodylia

Family

Crocodylidae

60-70

3-4 m

40 - 50 years

Habitat

Fresh water

Social life

Gregarious

Feeding

Carnivorous

Oviparous

Days

70 - 80

Baby

15 - 50 eggs

Description

The Siamese crocodile is not a large animal, as its size usually does not exceed 3 metres long, 4 at most. It has a large head in comparison to its body, and protruding eyes and nostrils, as proof of its aquatic lifestyle. Its limbs are similar to other crocodiles’, with five fingers on the front legs and four on the rear ones, albeit longer.

Its body has stripes alternating its colour between olive and brown. Young crocodiles have a golden or brownish hue, with black stripes and spots all over their body.

Habitat

Lakes, streams, slow current rivers, swamps and fresh water lowland marshlands.

Feeding

It mainly feeds on fish, but it can also capture reptiles, amphibians, birds and small mammals. It also eats carrion. Young crocodiles feed on arthropods, insects, crabs and amphibians. As in all crocodiles, they are unable to chew, so they have to shake the prey in order to tear it to pieces with their teeth.

Reproduction

The reproductive season takes places during the rainy period. Females build a kind of nest, several meters from the water, where they lay fifteen to fifty eggs. The nest is shaped like a mound, consisting of a mixture of soil, leaves and other plant material, reaching 150 cm of diameter and 30 cm tall. Females visit their nests regularly until the eggs hatch, and then they carry the babies to the water, on its mouth.

Conduct

It is medium-sized, although males can reach up to 4 metres long, and is not generally considered dangerous for humans. Its habits are generally sedentary and during the rainy season, it scatters across several flooded areas of its habitat. This species has been spotted up to 600 m high.

Status and conservation programs

It is one of the most endangered crocodiles in the wild, although it is quite populated in captivity, as it is bred to obtain its valuable hide. From animals in captivity, some introductions have been carried out in its native environment, where it had become almost completely extinct. The main threats to this species are the conversion of its habitat into farming land and poaching for its hide. In some regions of its distribution area, the native population protect these crocodiles, for they consider them to be sacred animals.

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Tortuga gegant d'Aldabra

atenea — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 19:12:11 +0000

Aldabra giant tortoise

This species was known as Geochelone gigantea until recently. It is originally from the Aldabra Atoll, located in the Indian Ocean, with a population of over 150,000 wild tortoises. It has also been introduced on the Seychelles, and on other islands including Reunion, Mauritius and Zanzibar.

It is mainly vegetarian and feeds on grasses and leaves of low-laying plants.

atenea Sun, 12/11/2016 - 20:12

Aldabrachelys gigantea

Atoll of Aldabra, in the Seychelles archipelago

Degree of risk

Vulnerable

Class

Reptilia

Order

Testudinata

Family

Testudinidae

160 - 250

90 - 140 cm

More than 100 years

Habitat

Savannah

Social life

Solitary

Feeding

Herbivorous

Oviparous

Days

110 - 250

Baby

9 - 25 eggs

Description

This is one of the largest reptiles in the world, as adults reach an average length of 120 cm and a weight of 200 kg, although exceptional specimens are known of that have exceeded 160 cm and 400 kg. It can be differentiated from the only species with which it could be confused, the Galapagos tortoise, by the presence of a small nuchal plate that the latter doesn't have.

Its skin is dark grey to black, with a prominent, convex shell, a long neck that helps it feed on the leaves of bushes, and short, sturdy legs. The limbs and head are covered with bony scales.

Habitat

Vegetation is scarce in this dry and inhospitable land on the Aldabra Atoll, and the tortoises mainly live in mangrove forests, where they find both shade and shelter, and areas close to the large central lagoon, covered by large extensions of grass.

Feeding

Its favourite food is grass, stalks and tender shoots. Curiously, as food is not abundant in their limited habitat, these tortoises complement their vegetarian diets by ingesting the flesh of tortoises that have just died and that they find when travelling from one place to another.

Reproduction

Sexual maturity is determined more by size than age, with most individuals starting to reproduce when reaching about half of their total size, normally when they are about 25 years old. Mating takes place in early morning or at twilight, with the male mounting the female’s shell and pushing her, along with making intermittent grunting sounds. The breeding season is normally from February to May. Females lay eggs during the driest season, from June to September. The nests are small holes some 25 cm deep that the females dig with their rear feet, although they also sometimes use existing protected depressions in the ground. The number of eggs varies from nine to 25, and the incubation period is from three to eight months, depending on the ambient temperature.

Conduct

Diurnal and terrestrial, it lives both alone and in groups, with groups mainly forming in open pastures. They are more active in the morning, when they search for food. They dig underground holes and rest inside pools of water or mud to stay cool during the hottest part of the day.

Although they are characteristically slow and lumbering, they can reach considerable speeds, especially when they feel threatened.

Status and conservation programs

Since there are no predators on the atoll, the most important natural causes of death of these animals in their natural habitat are the extremely-high temperatures during the hottest hours of the day, as well as falling into the numerous holes and cracks in the uneven coral substratum, then unable to get out. It also merits mention that the Seychelles inhabitants pose no danger to tortoises, as they respect them, considering them familiar totems, even nicknaming them with the lovely term ‘Malila Queen’.

This species is not in danger of extinction today, as calculations estimate that there are more than 150,000 specimens distributed unevenly on the three islets that make up the Aldraba Atoll. However, threats to a single population located in a small territory are always present and the species thus continues to be considered as extremely fragile.

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Tortuga gegant de les Galápagos

atenea — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 18:46:59 +0000

Galapagos tortoise

This species spends a lot of time in the mud or half submerged in the water to regulate its body temperature and protect itself from parasites. It eats grass and leaves, although the diet varies from one island to the other.

Before the arrival of white explorers, estimates calculate that there were some 250,000 tortoises on the archipelago, but today due to overhunting and competition with introduced fauna, there are only around 15,000 remaining, unevenly distributed between different subspecies.

atenea Sun, 12/11/2016 - 19:46

Chelonoidis nigra

Breeding program

ESB

Galapagos Islands.

Degree of risk

Vulnerable

Class

Reptilia

Order

Testudinata

Family

Testudinidae

100 - 300

110 - 180

More than 100 years

Habitat

Savannah

Social life

Solitary

Feeding

Herbivorous

Oviparous

Days

98 - 220

Baby

4 - 14 eggs

Description

They are the largest tortoises that exist, along with tortoises in the Seychelles group in the Indian Ocean. The largest specimens can measure up to 1.8 metres long and weigh over 300 kg.g.

Habitat

Its habitat consists of the arid lava lands of the Galapagos Islands. It spends the coolest hours of the day on completely dry lava regions on the lowlands of the islands, where the ground is generally arid and covered with grass. However, during the hottest time of day, it tends to move to higher volcanic lands, wetter, where it finds pools of water and feeds on the rich plant life that grows there.

Feeding

Their diets are principally herbivorous, as they feed on grasses, leaves, marram grasses and fruits of different plant species, including cacti, although they can also eat carrion and other organic remains.

Reproduction

Oviparous, the female lays from four to 14 eggs, which are placed in holes dug into the sand. During copulation, males bray loudly and this sound is audible at considerable distances.

Conduct

During the rainy season, they spend a good part of their time in the mud or semi-submerged for heat regulation and protection against parasites. They form a very loose social structure based on a hierarchy defined basically by size. They often interact very aggressively, hitting their shells against each other and biting each other’s limbs, both in fights between males and when courting.

Their longevity is extraordinary, one of the longest in the animal kingdom. One of the most famous individuals in this species was a female named Harriet, who died in 2006 at an Australian zoo at the ripe old age of 176. She was supposedly studied by Charles Darwin himself. Another elderly male named Lonesome George, the last tortoise specimen on Pinta Island, who died in 2012 at 112 years of age.

Status and conservation programs

As the environment, landscape and climate vary greatly from one island to another, and even within a single island, the morphology, size and weight of the different tortoise populations also change, to the point that up to fifteen subspecies are recognised, of which only eleven survive today. Recently, some authors believe that this subspecies is actually a different species, although this criterion is not accepted by all experts.

The impressive abundance of tortoises that the first visitors to the islands found is a thing of the past, due to overhunting, particularly during the 19th century, by sailors who took them aboard ships for fresh meat during long sea crossings, taking advantage of the animals' resistance to severe water and food shortages.

Moreover, the introduction of exotic species like rats, dogs, cats and goats to the fragile ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands has also contributed to the great decrease in their populations, and the extinction of up to three subspecies.

The Barcelona Zoo participates in the European Studbook (ESB) for this species in captivity.

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Tortuga d'esperons africana

atenea — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 18:20:54 +0000

African spurred tortoise

The common name comes from the conical spurs that it has on its back legs. This is a large land tortoise, the largest continental species in existence, as it can measure up to 80 cm long and weigh close to 100 kg. Its carapace is also very characteristic, very convex, with the scutes on the edge almost vertical.

The yellow scutes have darker concentric furrows, with the sutures between the scutes very dark. The front edge of the carapace is only slightly serrated, while the rear edge is very serrated and also flips up. The head and limbs are yellow and the front feet have a large number of horny scales on the front.

atenea Sun, 12/11/2016 - 19:20

Geochelone sulcata

The Sahel: Ethiopia, Egypt, Chad, Eritrea, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.

Degree of risk

Vulnerable

Class

Reptilia

Order

Testudinata

Family

Testudinidae

60 - 100

45 - 85

More than 50 years

Habitat

Desert

Social life

Solitary

Feeding

Herbivorous

Oviparous

Days

85-220

Baby

15 - 32 eggs

Description

Habitat

It occupies dry savannahs, scrubland steppes and the semi-desert regions of the Sahel.

Feeding

They are vegetarian, feeding primarily on the succulents in the dry regions where they live. There is often only water available for a very limited period of time in these regions and it therefore depends largely on metabolic water and moisture from the foods they ingest..

Reproduction

Mating takes place from June to March, but is most common between September and November. During courting, the male circles the female and occasionally attacks her with its shell, then immediately mounts here and copulates. The male emits highly-characteristic vocalisations during this process. The laying—with 15 to 32 eggs—tends to be in autumn or winter, and the quite-long incubation period lasts over 200 days.

Conduct

To avoid the region’s desiccation and high temperatures, they dig nests where they spend the hottest hours of the day, with maximum activity at dawn and dusk. It is a solitary and territorial animal, and males often do not even accept a female outside of the mating period. This species does not hibernate, as the climate is hot year round.

Status and conservation programs

Its populations have decreased greatly in recent decades due to over-capturing for human consumption and its use in traditional medicine, as well as the desertification and degradation of its habitat due to an expansion in agriculture and the pastures for domestic livestock. It has disappeared from extensive regions of its original area of distribution, and is critically endangered today in many others. It tends to survive almost exclusively in national parks and animal reserves.

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Al·ligàtor de la Xina

atenea — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 16:04:35 +0000

Chinese alligator

This small caiman is rarely longer than two metres, inhabiting only the lower regions of the Yangtze River in China. It feeds primarily on fish, snails, water bivalves, invertebrates, small mammals and aquatic eggs.

Its area of distribution is shrinking quickly due to the development of agriculture and human expansion. Today it is one of the Crocodyladae in greatest danger of extinction in nature.

atenea Sun, 12/11/2016 - 17:04

Alligator sinensis

Breeding program

EEP

Lower regions of the Yangtze River in the Pacific coastal provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in China.

Degree of risk

Critically endangered

Class

Reptilia

Order

Crocodylia

Family

Crocodylidae

30 - 45

1,4 - 2,2 m

More than 50 years

Habitat

Fresh water

Social life

Solitary

Feeding

Carnivorous

Oviparous

Days

60 - 80

Baby

10 - 40 eggs

Description

With regard to its general appearance, the Chinese alligator is a smaller version of the Mississippi alligator, although it also differs in several ways: the snout is slightly raised and tapered, the eyelids have a bone plate, it is totally armoured, even on the belly, as the ventral scales have osteoderms, and the eyes are a light-chestnut colour, in addition to other smaller differences. It is dark coloured with lighter areas along the body and its maximum size is some two metres.

Alligators and caiman differ from other crocodiles mainly due to the teeth on the lower jaw being inserted into small cavities in the upper jaw, so that they are not visible when their mouths are closed.

Habitat

It inhabits lagoons, swamps, marshes, ponds, and banks of rivers and streams in the lower basin of the Yangtze River that are temperate or subtropical.

Feeding

It feeds primarily on fish, snails, water bivalves, invertebrates, small mammals and aquatic eggs, and can even capture and devour aquatic turtles.

Reproduction

The mating season takes place shortly after the rainfalls start, normally around June, when the two sexes make a type of braying sound that is audible even at considerable distances. Females lay eggs in a nest built with vegetation and mud on the shore near water, and they are protected by the mother during incubation. When the eggs hatch, around September, the mother helps break the eggshell and carries the babies to the water, holding them delicately in her mouth. This species’ eggs are the smallest of all crocodiles’.

Conduct

They hibernate in holes close to the river between October and March or April. In spring, they abandon them, but do keep using them occasionally throughout the year. They spend most of the day sunbathing, then go out hunting prey at night.

Chinese alligators are considered the most docile and least aggressive of all in the Crocodylia order.

Status and conservation programs

This species is in serious danger of extinction in its natural habitat. The total wild population is estimated at some 300 animals, with very little breeding success.

The most significant threats to which they are submitted are the degradation of their water habitats from pollution, the construction of river and industrial infrastructures and the transformation of lands in rice paddies. Hunting is a further threat, which continues to reduce their number for use as meat for human consumption and the internal organs for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

Luckily, they breed easily in captivity at different zoos around the world and even some zoos in China, which are engaged in several projects to reintroduce the species to their natural habitat.

The Barcelona Zoo participates in the EEP for this endangered species.

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Dragó de Komodo

atenea — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 15:30:31 +0000

Komodo dragon

The Komodo dragon, which can be up to three metres long and weigh over 150 kilograms, is the largest lizard in the world. Its habitat is restricted to the small Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami.

It moves agilely on ground despite its considerable weight (it can run at 20 km/h for short distances), is a very good swimmer and can even travel between nearby islands when sea currents are favourable.

With a carnivorous and carrion-based diet, its saliva is quite toxic. It is the most powerful predator on the islands where it lives, as there are no large hunting mammals like tigers or leopards there.

atenea Sun, 12/11/2016 - 16:30

Varanus komodoensis

Breeding program

EEP

Its habitat is restricted to the small Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami.

Its natural habitats are flat savannahs and open forest that is found on these volcanic islands, with dry and hot climates, some 750 mm of annual rainfall, concentrated in three or four months, from December to March.

Degree of risk

Endangered

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Varanidae

70-160

Up to 3,2 m

Up to 50 years

Habitat

Forest

Social life

Solitary

Feeding

Carnivorous

Oviparous

Days

220-260 days

Baby

20-40 eggs

Description

In the wild, an adult Komodo dragon weighs some 70 kilos, although specimens in captivity have weighed over 160 kg. Its length can measure over three metres and its tail is as long as the body, with some 60 serrated and often-replaced teeth, up to 2.5 centimetres long. The tongue and long and yellow, markedly forked. The colouring is grey or brownish, with different green and reddish tones over the whole body.

Habitat

Feeding

With a carnivorous and carrion-based diet, it is the most powerful predator on the islands on which it inhabits, as there are no large hunting mammals like tigers or leopards there. As adults, they can capture considerably large prey such as the Rusa deer, water buffalo, goats and wild boar, although they also prey on micromammals, birds, eggs, fish, crabs and even the babies and young of their own species. They hunt by ambush, crushing prey with their powerful jaws. If the victim escapes after attack, it will die within hours due to the infection caused by the more than 50 types of bacteria in their saliva.

Reproduction

Its reproduction is oviparous: after copulation, females lay from 20 to 40 eggs in a nest dug into the ground, where the babies will hatch after seven or eight months. However, it is also one of the few vertebrate species that can reproduce by parthenogenesis, a type of asexual reproduction in which females can produce new specimens without being fertilised by the male.

Conduct

They are primarily active first thing in the morning and at sunset, avoiding movement at night and during the hottest hours of the day. They have a notorious territorial behaviour, with males defending territories up to 2 km2 in size.

It moves with great agility on land despite its considerable weight (they have been recorded at speeds of up to 20 km/h for short distances), is an extremely good swimmer and can even travel between neighbouring islands when sea currents are favourable. It can also climb trees quite nimbly, particularly young dragons.

Status and conservation programs

The current population of the Komodo dragon is estimated at 5000 to 6000 specimens. Despite more than half of them living in the Komodo National Park, made up of the majority of islands inhabited by this animal, all studies performed in recent decades point to a progressive decrease in their numbers and area of distribution. The reasons for this shrinking are due to humans: destruction of their habitat due to the transformation of natural areas into farmlands, fragmentation of their populations due to the progressive increase of urban hubs, a decrease in their prey due to excess hunting and even the capture of dragons to supply the illegal trafficking of pets.

For some years now in captivity, they have successfully reproduced in different zoos around the world, such as those in Washington, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Miami and Jakarta. In Europe at present breeding has only been successful at the zoos in Prague, London, Chester and Reptilandia, on the island of Gran Canària, as well as at our Zoo, which participates in the EEP for the species, and at which 12 babies were born in 2012 of this endangered giant reptile.

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Land of Dragons