Northwyrm Blog

It's June 17th, world crocodile day, a day to appreciate these amazing yet endangered animals. They are my personal favourite group of animals period and just endlessly fascinating to me, both those we have today and those that lived in the ancient past. Tho I'm no professional by any means, I strive to learn about them and spread this knowledge. So here's some photos, art and skeletals of fossil crocs (using the term rather liberally I know). Feel free to drop your favourites in the reblogs, doesn't matter if extinct or not.

What's your favorite crocodile? Mine is the Cuban crocodile.

There are 23-26 species of crocodilia (depending on how you split a couple of species) in three families: Alligatoridae, which has the American and Chinese alligators and all the caimans; Gavialidae, which has the gharial and tomistoma, and Crocodylidae, which contans the true crocodiles.

Cuban crocs have been my favorite of the true crocodiles for many years, ever since I got to work with the pair at Louisville Zoo when I was... much younger.

They were such babies back then...

I love that they gallop!

This is footage from the now-defunct Smooth Waters Wildlife Park, not a pet.

You probably love them too, even if you don't know it- if you've been around the internet long enough, you've likely seen this video.

These are baby Cuban crocodiles being hand-raised as part of a conservation project at the Dragonwood Conservancy, not pets.

Those laser noises are baby Cuban crocs making an affiliative call (not a distress call) when their caretaker shows up!

Old Forest

Philippine Sailfin Lizard (Hydrosaurus pustulatus)