Crocodylus niloticus

The Nile crocodile is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the eastern, southern, and central regions of the continent, and lives in different types of aquatic environments such as lakes, rivers, swamps and marshlands. It occasionally inhabits deltas, brackish lakes and rarely also saltwater. Its range once stretched from the Nile Delta throughout the Nile River. Lake Turkana in Kenya has one of the largest undisturbed Nile crocodile populations.

Crocodylus niloticus

Dewet · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Nile crocodilePBDB
Sits inside
CrocodylusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Crocodylia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Mesoeucrocodylia

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 46 occurrencesMiocene — about 4 of 46 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 46 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 29 of 46 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.7–3.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 11 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 12 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

46 occurrences of Crocodylus niloticus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

46 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

11 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 3.77°N, 36.44°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.94°N, 36.25°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.33°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°E2 — 11.06°N, 42.28°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EBakate — 4.27°N, 36.60°EBaynunah — 24.16°N, 53.01°ESinda Beds — 1.17°N, 30.17°EAït Kandoula — 31.06°N, 6.56°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Crocodylus niloticus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Crocodylus niloticus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Crocodylus niloticus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

443 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 46 sites for Crocodylus niloticus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

28 references

Each of the 46 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 16 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Crocodylus niloticus

Credit
Dewet
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Crocodylus niloticus was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCrocodylus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Laurenti 1768