What do crocodiles like to eat

For larger foods such as the buffalo, crocs will drag them to a deeper part of the water and submerge them, this in itself gives the buffalo a serve disadvantage as they are not great swimmers. Crocodiles do not kill for sport, they are just looking to survive, many people demonise crocs but they are just like humans in their meat eating but are unable to do it humanly and are not that great with an oven. The most common method a crocodile uses is water as a stealth blanket, a 15ft crocodile can move around in the water without making a ripple as their eyes break the surface.

They use this technique in patrolling hotspots in lakes and rivers edges, this is where crocs find most mammals will drink and become less aware of their surroundings. In mangrove habitats, the saltwater crocodile likes to feed on crustaceans. Mud crabs that belong to the genus Scylla makes up the essential part of the diet. In birds, crocodiles prefer to eat water birds, magpie goose, emu , common sand-piper, and wading birds.

They may also eat chevrotains whenever they see one. Adult species might never stop feeding on small animals because these animals are the only source to gain strength when the food is scarce. Saltwater crocs are extremely large and thus they can get hold of large animals such as sambar, wild boar , kangaroo , deer , dingoes, gaur, bovines, water buffalo, banteng, and orangutans.

They will eat domestic livestock including sheep, cattle, goat, chicken, horses, and pigs. Prominent among marine animals are dugongs, sawfish, sea snakes, saltwater bony fish, sea birds, sharks, and sea turtles.

The saltwater crocs typically hunt on the coastal areas where they could easily find female turtles returning to their breeding sites. Crocs consume baby turtles that come out from burrows at night.

When the prey is spotted the crocodile swims without making any noise and try to get as close possible as it can. As it reaches, the croc strikes the prey giving it little or no time to escape. The hunting behavior of saltwater crocodile is quite unique from Nile crocodile or even alligators. When the prey is too large the croc will first try to drown it or crush it with a death roll.

Unlike most other crocodilian species, the American crocodile relies on fish for the most part of their diet. They have relatively slender and narrow snout which is adaptation of an animal that eats fish. American crocodiles will not spare a single fish species that swims in the freshwater habitats.

The snout of the American croc is not so narrow in comparison to other fish-eating crocodiles such as gharials. This shows that they also eat other animals besides fish. See also: American Crocodile Facts. They are also thought to feed on carrion. Depending on the location American crocs have a varied diet. Generally they would prefer to consume insects, herons, pelicans , storks, grebes, herons, coots, moorhens, flamingos , snails, and larvae. The Mexican population relies on frogs, small mammals, fish, aquatic insects, and turtles.

You can add vitamin supplements to their diets for more benefit. This is not as important if the crocodile is receiving whole prey. Print all pages in this section. Give feedback about this page. Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer. Home Environment Animals Keeping wildlife as pets Feeding crocodiles. Keeping crocodiles as pets Hide menu Introduction How to keep a crocodile Housing crocodiles Feeding crocodiles Handling crocodiles.