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Crocodylus niloticus (7) tooth

  • Product Code: C23972
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Origin : Madagascar

Nile crocodile tooth mm 38 x 8 x 7, only a piece as in pictures.

The Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti, 1768) is a large aquatic reptile, widespread in many waters in Africa: rivers, lakes, reservoirs and pools. It is not present in the Nile north of Lake Nasser.
The nostrils allow the crocodile to breathe even when it is underwater because they are placed in the upper part of the snout. A layer of skin prevents water from entering the nostrils.
The eyes are also located in the highest part of the head to allow the crocodile to detect and monitor prey when it is submerged.
The tail has the function of rudder and also acts as a weapon against prey. It's strong enough to cripple a deer.
The length of the animal can reach 6 meters and even exceed them in some cases and their weight can mature into adulthood or advanced between the over 900 and 1000 kg. The foreleg has 5 fingers and the foreleg has 4 entirely palmate. It has a dark green color, with considerable individual variations, which can reach brown or chocolate.
Unlike mammals and birds, they do not have warm blood, the crocodile to warm up must constantly bask in the sun. To prevent your body from overheating too much, the Nile crocodile takes refuge in the shade or dives into the water. During periods of drought it can wander even for 25 kilometers in search of water. It can also live in salt water, in fact it has been sighted in the canal that divides Madagascar from Africa.
Its teeth are robust, allowing the animal to tear large pieces of meat from prey. The strength of the bite of the Nile crocodile is of the order of two thousand kilograms strength. The teeth grow continuously and are replaced by always new ones. Like all modern reptiles, it is not able to cut and chew, so it only detaches the meat from prey in large quantities. When the crocodile catches a prey with its powerful jaws, it has no chance of escape, since this big reptile with a powerful bite will begin to rotate on itself and drown it. Sometimes it takes the prey under a trunk or a stone on the bottom of the river to leave the meat to macerate, then subsequently remove large pieces and gulp them down. The diet also varies according to age: the newborn crocodiles feed on small fish or insects and are in turn prey to many animals such as the Nean varanus (ghiotto also of crocodile eggs), several large fish or even different adults of their own species. In the end, when the lucky few reach adulthood, they begin to include almost any animal in their diet, including animals that were predators in childhood. The crocodile often attacks large animals such as wildebeests, buffaloes, zebras, acephalous or impalas, especially when large herds of herbivores have to cross a river to reach the nearest pastures during the dry African seasons. Leopards, cheetahs, hyenas or lions have been seen several times when they were forced to kill their prey near a river or when these carnivores came to drink. Many times there were fights between lions and crocodiles for the division of a prey that, unfortunately for the unfortunate cats, had ended too close to the river.
The dry season is the period in which the crocodiles reproduce, while the rainy season is when the eggs hatch.
Each male mates with as many females as possible, so sometimes there are fights between rivals. The nest is a hole dug in the ground near the banks of the rivers. Until the hatching of the eggs the nest is guarded.
The female can lay 25 to 100 eggs from the soft shell. Once babies are born, they are protected for 4 weeks from predators attack. The sex of crocodiles is determined by the temperature of the environment. If the temperature is below 29 ° C (at the time of birth), all individuals will be females.





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