Download Three main adaptive types of living crocodilians

Crocodilians
The order Crocodylia includes crocodiles, alligators, caimans
and gavials, plus all of their extinct relatives.
Crocodilians first appeared in the Late Triassic,
around 200 million years ago. They have changed
so little from their ancestors that they are often said
to be living fossils.
But not all of the fossil crocodiles looked like those we know today.
There were bizarre animals with duck-billed snouts, pug-nosed crocodiles,
and plant eating crocodiles. They inhabited environments from fully terrestrial
to almost completely marine.
Three main adaptive types of living crocodilians
These are large to very large
animals with more or less
pointed snouts and sharp
teeth. These animals are
able to tear apart large prey,
as well as consume fish
and other smaller animals.
The Nile Crocodile and the
Saltwater Crocodile are
examples of this type.
The second type has a much
broader and blunter snout,
with rounded, bulbous teeth.
Such animals are specialists
on hard-bodied prey such as
turtles; they do eat almost
anything else they can get.
The American Alligator and
most of the South American
Caimans are examples of
this adaptation.
The most distinctive
crocodilians are in the
longirostrine group. These
have very long, narrow,
tapering snouts, armed with
many small, very sharp
teeth. They are almost
exclusively fish eaters, and
characteristically snap their
head sideways through
the water to catch the fish.
Examples are the gavials,
the West African Narrowsnouted crocodile and the
Orinocco Crocodile.