The Yacare Caiman

The Crocodilia order of reptiles comprises of two dozen species, including the Nile crocodile of Egypt, the alligators of Florida, the estuarine crocodile of Sundarban and the increasingly rare gharial of our rivers. Members of Crocodilia have several common features. They are large, predatory creatures that move well on water and land. Their eyes, ears and nose are on the top of the head. Their skin is tough and scaly and they have sharp, conical shaped teeth, a strong bite, and spiked tails. Legend has it that they weep for their victims, hence the term “crocodile tears.” Members of the Crocodilia order are known as crocodilians.

The Yacare caiman, one of the smaller crocodilians, is found in Brazil as well as neighbouring Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. The average length is around 2.5 meters, compared to 6.25 meters for our estuarine crocodiles and four meters for the alligators of Florida's swamps.

The caiman is one of a series of conservation success stories from Brazil. Several decades ago, this reptile was almost wiped out by hunters because its skin was sought after for making shoes and bags. Its habitat was also in danger of disappearing, with development, farming and mining in the Pantanal, Brazil's massive wetland. However, the Brazilians decided to declare it an endangered species and banned its hunting.

Since then the population has rebounded. The Pantanal today has an estimated 10 million caimans today.

I encountered dozens of caimans in the few days I spent visiting the Pantanal. Usually they were basking in the sun on the bank of a river, stream or lake. However, one day I saw them in action. Early morning we had gone out for a game drive when we saw a group of caimans floating among the water hyacinth on one side of a large pond. There were many birds in the pond, too, so we decided to stop and have a closer look.

The caimans seemed to be blissfully floating on the water, almost dozing. But watching carefully, I occasionally saw a flash of movement within the pack, a lightning-fast jerk of the head. It was too fast for my eye to resolve exactly what was going on, so I set my camera on high-speed and tried to photograph the movement. Eventually I did catch a picture – though blurry – that showed the caiman catch a fish and swallow it in a fraction of a second.

On another occasion we had gone for a long afternoon hike through the forests and swampland near our wilderness lodge. Dusk was setting in on our way back, and at one point we had to skirt a pond. On the bank were dozens of caimans of all sizes. We cautiously walked past them. I made sure I maintained a safe distance from the tails, which are sometimes used as a weapon, lashing out and wounding the prey with its scales.

Several weeks after returning from Brazil, my memory of the caimans lies in their teeming numbers. What an amazing recovery for a species that was almost extinct!

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