American crocodile

How it lives

American crocodiles do not form social groups, although animals may gather to feed or bask. They mate in late autumn or early winter. In February or March females build nests of sand, mud and plant matter beside the water, dig a hole and lay about 30 to 70 eggs (average clutch 38). The eggs incubate for about 75 to 80 days and hatch near the first summer rains. Hatchlings call from inside the eggs, and the mother opens the nest and carries them to the water in her mouth. Females mature at about 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in). In a long Florida study, hatchling survival was about 25 percent and rose to near 90 percent by year six.

Where it goes

Sources I opened describe a coastal species that moves between mangroves, lagoons, river mouths, cays and open water, and it can cross the sea between islands. Crocodiles seen in Grand Cayman are thought to have swum from Cuba. I did not find movement data specific to Jardines de la Reina.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

The IUCN lists the American crocodile as Vulnerable (2022 assessment). Wikipedia gives about 5,000 mature individuals as of 2020, and notes that population data are limited outside Florida. In the United States it was moved from endangered to threatened in 2007. In Florida, fewer than 30 nests were counted in the 1970s, and numbers have since grown, but about two thirds of recorded deaths in southern Florida are road collisions. On Hispaniola it survives mainly in two lakes. Cuba also holds the Critically Endangered Cuban crocodile. Genetic work shows the Greater Antillean animals, including those in Cuba, form a distinct lineage from continental ones, with 5.4 percent divergence. Wikipedia notes that Jardines de la Reina has crocodiles, but I did not find a count for the park.