Behavior
When water recedes in the dry season, Orinoco crocodiles retreat to burrows they excavate into the riverbanks. The adult pair mates during the drier period of the year and usually 14 weeks after mating, the female crocodile will dig a nest and lay approximately 40 eggs. It is a hole-nester and usually makes the nest on a sand bank. The eggs incubate for around 3 months. During the night they hatch and call to their mother who digs them out of the nest and carries them to the water, which is considerably higher at this point. Young Orinoco crocodiles are often at risk from predation by American Black Vultures, tegu lizards, anacondas, caimans, coatis, jaguars and other carnivores, though these species are sometimes caught and killed by the defending mother crocodile. It has been reported that mothers have defended pods of juveniles for over 3 years, though closer to one year to independence is generally most common.
Read more about this topic: Orinoco Crocodile
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—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)