Saltwater crocodile - online puzzles

The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India 's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It is among the largest crocodiles and regarded as dangerous by people who share the same environment. It was hunted for its skin throughout its range up to the 1970s, and is threatened by illegal killing and habitat loss.Males grow to a length of up to 6 m (20 ft), rarely exceeding 6.1 m (20 ft) or a weight of 1,000–1,075 kg (2,205–2,370 lb). Females are much smaller and rarely surpass 3 m (10 ft).

It is also known as the estuarine crocodile, Indo-Pacific crocodile, marine crocodile, sea crocodile or informally as saltie.The saltwater crocodile is a large and opportunistic hypercarnivorous apex predator. It ambushes most of its prey and then drowns or swallows it whole. It is capable of prevailing over almost any animal that enters its territory, including other apex predators such as sharks, varieties of freshwater and marine fish including pelagic species, invertebrates such as crustaceans, various reptiles, birds and mammals, including humans.

Taxonomy and evolution

Crocodilus porosus was the scientific name proposed by Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider who described a zoological specimen in 1801.Incomplete fossil records make it difficult to accurately trace the emergence of the species. The genome was fully sequenced in 2007. The earliest fossil evidence of the species dates to around 4.0–4.5 million years ago and no subspecies are known.