Pantanal - Alligator
04-04-2021
Alligators (family Alligatoridae) live mainly on the American continent and in parts of Asia. In Brazil there are three genera of them: Melanosuchus, Caiman and Paleosuchus, all designated by the generic name of "Jacarés". Thanks to successive adaptations, alligators were under the first vertebrates to conquer terrestrial space. Despite being predatory animals, they rarely attack humans and prefer to feed on fish, crustaceans and other weak and sick animals.
Brazil has six species, mainly Jacaretinga and Jacaré-açu, the largest of Brazilian alligators with up to 6 meters in length, which are found in the Amazon basin, and the Yellow-crested Jacaré that is found in the biomes of cerrado, caatinga, atlantic forest and pampas.
Picture: Alex Satsukawa, CC BY-SA 4.0 Jacare_do_pantanal Wikimedia Commons