American Crocodile - Range and Distribution

Range and Distribution

C. acutus is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas. It inhabits waters such as mangrove swamps, river mouths, fresh waters, and salt lakes, and can even be found at sea (hence its wide distribution on the Caribbean Islands, southern Florida, the Greater Antilles and southern Mexico to Colombia and Ecuador. The American crocodile is especially plentiful in Costa Rica. One of its largest documented populations is in Lago Enriquillo, a hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic. The species has also been recorded from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

American crocodiles have recently been sighted in Grand Cayman, leading experts to believe the species may be swimming from Cuba (which is home to a massive American crocodile population) and slowly repopulating Grand Cayman. In addition, an American crocodile/Cuban crocodile hybrid was recently discovered in the Cancun area. The crocodile likely originated in the Zapata Swamp of Cuba (the only place where these wild hybrids exist) and swam to the Yucatán Peninsula. Their saline tolerance also allowed the American crocodile to colonize limited portions of the United States (only extreme southern Florida.) Contrary to popular misinformation, the presence of the American alligator is not the reason the American crocodile was unable to populate brackish waters north of Florida, but rather the climate. American crocodiles, unlike American alligators, are extremely susceptible to cold temperatures and live exclusively within tropical waters. During 2009, unusually cold weather in southern Florida resulted in the deaths of about 150 wild American crocodiles, including a well-known crocodile which inhabited Sanibel Island far north of their natural range.

American crocodiles in the United States coexist with the American alligator, and are primarily found in Everglades National Park, Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys from Miami southward. A sizable population occurs near Homestead, Florida, at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station. Some individuals wander northward to warm summer waters and have been sighted in Sarasota County and Palm Beach County. In the summer of 2008, a crocodile was captured in the surf on Isle of Palms, South Carolina.

They coexist with the very small spectacled caiman within Central America. The only other crocodiles present within the American crocodile's range are the smaller and critically endangered Cuban crocodile, along with the small Morelet's crocodile in southern Mexico and Guatemala.