Spectacled Caiman

The spectacled caimans get their name from the horn bar between their eyes, which is reminiscent of the bridge of a pair of glasses.

Characteristics

What do spectacled caimans look like?

Spectacled caimans belong to the order of crocodiles and there to the family of alligators. They have lived on earth for 80 million years. Alligators and caimans are easily distinguished from other crocodiles by an external feature: When alligators and caimans keep their mouths closed, the fourth tooth of their lower jaw is not visible. In contrast, however, it is clearly visible in the other crocodiles.

Spectacled caimans are around two meters long and weigh around 50 to 80 kilograms. The females stay a little smaller. The males also have a wider head and tail. The bony bar between the eyes is typical for spectacled caimans.

They are dark olive in color on the back, the belly is lighter and greenish-yellow to white. They are brownish in color on the rest of the body. Like most crocodiles, spectacled caimans can change color: They are darker in color when they are happy, lighter in color when excited or threatened. Her snout is quite long.

Where do spectacled caimans live?

Spectacled caimans are only found in Central America and the northern half of South America to northern Uruguay. In Florida, a colony of spectacled caimans that was released in the 1950s is said to live and continue to spread there. Spectacled caimans are most commonly found in backwaters, swamps, and lakes with muddy bottoms and sandbanks.

What species of spectacled caiman are there?

There are about six different subspecies of the spectacled caiman. The spectacled caiman’s closest relatives are the broad-snouted caiman and the black caiman, which are all but extinct.

How old do spectacled caimans get?

Like all crocodiles, spectacled caimans can live to be very old: They live for around 60 years, and in extreme cases, it is said that they can even live up to 100 years.

Behave

How do spectacled caimans live?

Although spectacled caimans are large animals, they are difficult to spot in their natural habitat: They spend most of their time lying in wait for prey or basking on the shore or in the water. Most of the time, the animals lie still in the water. Only the eyes and the tip of the snout with the nostrils protrude above the water surface. Like all crocodiles, spectacled caimans are perfectly adapted to life in the water. When they swim or dive, they can move silently and are hard to spot.

When swimming underwater, they close their nostrils and ears with special flaps. The eyes are protected by a transparent eyelid – the so-called nictitating membrane. Through special adaptations of their blood circulation, they can dive for over an hour without having to come to the water’s surface to breathe. Although spectacled caimans mostly live in groups, the cohesion between the animals is only loose and there is no distinct hierarchy. Spectacled caimans are considered to be quite aggressive and biting.

Friends and foes of the spectacled caiman

While many young spectacled caimans are eaten by birds or reptiles, adult caimans have no predators. They are only threatened by humans: in the last 150 years, caimans have been hunted so hard that in some places they have almost been wiped out. In addition, it is becoming increasingly rare for them to find suitable habitats in which they are undisturbed.

How do spectacled caimans reproduce?

When mating, the male spectacled caiman clasps the female with his front legs and twists his tail sideways down so that the animals’ bodies are close together.

The female spectacled caiman then builds a nest in which she lays 25 to 35 eggs, each about 5.5 to 6.5 centimeters in size, and covers them with plant remains. The plant matter rots like a compost heap, providing the heat needed for the eggs to hatch. There is a special feature: If the temperature in the nest is below 31°C, only females develop in the eggs, if the temperature is above 32°C, only males develop. The female guards her clutch.

After about 85 to 90 days, just before the caiman babies hatch, they start calling while they are still in the egg. The female then uncovers the eggs again and carefully breaks the eggshells to make it easier for the little ones to crawl out of the egg.

Newly hatched spectacled caimans are yellow-brown in color and have six black horizontal stripes on the body and seven horizontal stripes on the tail. After hatching, the mother carries the young, which are 15 to 20 centimeters in size, to the water in her mouth. In the near future, she will try to protect her offspring from predators such as birds, turtles, and other reptiles.

The young spectacled caimans often climb onto their mother’s back to bask. Despite all vigilance, many young spectacled caimans are eaten – for example by predatory fish and snakes, but also by other alligators and caimans. Only two to five percent of the young reach sexual maturity. This occurs when females are 1.2 to 1.5 and males are 1.4 to 1.6 meters long.

How do spectacled caimans communicate?

Young spectacled caimans make squawking calls when threatened. Adult animals hiss, bark, or roar.

Care

What do spectacled caimans eat?

Spectacled caimans are frightening reptiles, but when they are young they mostly feed on small animals such as aquatic insects, frogs, crabs, snails, fish, and lizards. Only later do they begin to eat turtles, birds, and small mammals.

Spectacled caimans grab their prey in a flash with their powerful teeth and tear it apart by turning around their own axis underwater. They tear pieces out of their prey. Young spectacled caimans use their snouts to search for food in the muddy bottom.

Husbandry of spectacled caimans

Spectacled caimans are kept in many zoos, but also by private keepers. In captivity, they are fed fish, chicken chicks, mice, rats, and rabbits. Over time, spectacled caimans learn to recognize their different keepers.