by Nicole

Saltwater crocodiles are dangerous animals. Saltwater crocodiles are a threat to humans if they are in their environment. Their scientific name is "Crocodylus Porosus". The saltwater crocodile favours salty estuaries and tidal waterways but the estuarine species does just as well in freshwater.

Australian saltwater crocodiles are known to grow to a length of 7 metres and weigh more that a tonne. Their colour is usually grey or brown above and whitish below. One of the special features of these reptiles is that they can see through a special third eyelid when underwater. This transparent eyelid covers their eye when underwater. Crocodiles can also cover their ears so that water doesn't get in.

The habitat of saltwater crocodiles are Sri Lanka and the east coast of India, Caroline Islands, Burma and south east Asia, New Guinea, Phillipines, and coastal northern Australia. Their environment is saltwater rivers, swamps and flood plains and billabongs and they can live in freshwater rivers and lakes.

Salwater crocodiles lays its eggs on a riverbank, in a scratched up pile of rotting plant debris and mud or snad. The hatchlings hatch about 100 days later. The female lays 40 to 60 or so eggs. The mother spends most of her time guarding the mound, supposedly to ward off predators that dig for eggs. If the sun should be overhead the nest, urine is sprayed on it. When the mother senses that the young are ready to hatch, she will scrape away the top so that the hatchlings can emerge into open air. Relatively few eggs hatch and even fewer young survive their first year.

Crocodiles, one of natures most fearsome reptiles, are also one of the Earth's most successful animals - they've been around since the dinosaur times. They are highly efficient predators who have no natural enemies and are aided by their unique underwater ability to see and catch their prey.

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