Nutrition
By simply looking at the American crocodile, you could probably
guess the means of how it acquires its food and also what kind
of food it eats. Crocodylus acutus is a carnivorous
reptile that has no natural predators and is able to feed on
basically anything it can get a hold of. Because c
rocodiles
possess long, narrow snouts and spend of most of their time in
or near the water, the most common source of nutrients for these
animals is fish. Virtually any species of fish occupy the same
waters as the crocodiles are a target for consumption, but two
of the more commons ones in Florida are bass and tarpon.
Younger crocodiles tend to feed mainly on fish, insects, and
small amphibians such as
frogs. As crocodiles get larger, they tend to feed on larger prey.
Another common source of food for these creatures is turtles. It
might be crazy to think that a crocodile could consume a turtle
due the
turtle’s hard shell, but it is actually quite easy for a
crocodile to break the shell due to its extremely powerful bite.
Because crocodiles
often lay at the edge of the water or are submerged near the water’s
edge, it is not uncommon for larger crocs to take down a small to
medium sized mammal that is along the shore. If a larg
er
prey item is captured, a unique behavior is then exhibited by
crocodiles to kill and consume it. Once it has a grip on its prey,
crocodiles will then drag the prey into the water and begin to roll
over and over again in the water and in doing so will drown its prey. After the
animal has been killed it will be swallowed whole, but if it is too
big to swallow in one bite the crocodile will begin rolling again
and will tear of bite sized pieces one at a time.
Check out this video to get an idea of a crocodilian taking down
a large animal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juZ0cDdOgS0
After these animals acquire all of these nutrients, where does
it all go? Like all other members of the reptiles, crocodiles
have a digestive and closed circulatory system. The stomach of
the crocodilians is unique because of one feature that separates
them from any other organisms. The first part of the stomach is
powerful and muscular which is not too unique, but
the second
part of the stomach consists of mainly stomach acid. This
stomach acid is known to be the most acidic of any animal and is
able to breakdown basically any part of its prey. The
circulatory system of these animals is also extremely unique and
is considered to be one of the most efficient circulatory
systems in the animal kingdom. The heart is made up of four
chambers, which is unlike any other group of reptiles. One of
the reasons for being considered the most efficient systems is
the mechanism of shunting blood. To briefly sum up what happens
in the shunting process, deoxygenated blood is shunted away from
the lungs and can go directly to the stomach instead of back to
the heart, which is thought to aid in the process of creating such
highly acidic stomach acid.
Just as these organisms have a unique circulatory system, they also have a specialized set of events that they must carry out to Reproduce.
