Salt Water/Estuarine Crocodile

The Saltwater Crocodile adults typically have a heavy build and range in colour from golden tan to grey to black, with irregular darker mottling. Juveniles are brightly patterned with dark spots/bands on the body and tail; these tend to fade with age. The belly is cream-coloured.

Within Australia, the Saltwater Crocodile is found from around Gladstone in Queensland along the eastern coast to Cape York Peninsula and across the northern regions of the Northern Territory to around Broome in northern Western Australia. The Saltwater Crocodile is also found in Indonesia and Southeast Asia through to Sri Lanka.

80 - 100 years.

Female Saltwater Crocodiles attain lengths of 3 - 3.5m while males grow on average to 4 - 5m in Australia which is the southernmost part of their distribution. That said the largest recorded Saltwater Crocodile measured 8.36m.

The diet of the Saltwater Crocodile consists of fish, birds, sea turtles and mammals up to the size of a water buffalo. They are also known to be cannibalistic.

The Saltwater Crocodile is found in northern coastal areas and estuaries, from Broome in northwestern Western Australia to the Gladstone area in southeastern Queensland. They also occur on a number of islands off the Northern Territory and Queensland coastline.

Once the mound is constructed the female digs an egg chamber and lays up to 71 hard-shelled eggs (an average of around 50).

The mother guards the nest, even preventing it from drying out if necessary by splashing it with water. The eggs take 90 days to develop. Interestingly the sex of the young Australian Saltwater Crocodiles is determined by the incubation temperature.

Below 30 degrees celsius, the hatchlings will be female, and above 32 degrees celsius, they will be male.

The Estuarine Crocodile slams their jaw shut the strongest out of any animal in the world at around 3,700 pounds per square inch!