Crocodile
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For a member of the biological order, see Crocodilia.
A crocodile is a large reptile that lives in water. Crocodiles live in rivers, lakes and dams in parts of America Asia, Africa and Australia. Some of the crocodiles from Australia live in salt water. These saltwater crocodiles are normally bigger than the ones that live in fresh water. While crocodiles spend most of their time in water, they can come out and move around on the land. Crocodiles cannot breathe underwater: they breathe air, just like people. They can hold their breath for a long time underwater. Crocodiles eat other animals as food. These other animals include fish and animals that come to drink at the river, like buck and cows. Crocodiles can and do eat people. Crocodiles often ambush the animals that they eat, lying in wait and then catching them by surprise. They grab them with their long, powerful jaws and drag them into the water. While in the water they roll over and over, so that the animal is disoriented and finds it difficult to fight back. When the animal has drowned, they begin to eat.
The difference between an alligator and a crocodile is, that you can not see the fourth tooth in the lower jaw of an alligator when the alligator's mouth is closed. You can see the fourth tooth in the lower jaw of a crocodile when its mouth is closed. Sometimes it is said, that alligators have as wide a snout as crocodiles have a narrow snout, but there are also some crocodiles with wide snouts.
The name "Crocodile" can also sometimes be used for any member of the order Crocodilia.
