As with all crocodilians, the slender-snouted crocodile’s facial features sit atop its head, suiting its ambush predatory lifestyle by allowing it to remain mostly submerged underwater when stalking prey.
As with all other crocodilians, the head of the slender-snouted crocodile is well-suited for its ambush predatory lifestyle, with nostrils that sit high on the tip of the snout and eyes that face forward at the top of its head. This allows it to lie in wait at the edge of the water and stalk its prey while the rest of the body is almost completely submerged underwater, sit-and-wait style.
When hunting animals that are taking a drink of water from the banks of the river, slender-snouted crocodiles will quietly wait for an opportunity to lunge from the water and strike, striking when the prey animal dips its head to drink.
• Image | ©️ Matthew Baldwin, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
• Sources | (Grigg & Gans, 1993; Kelly, 2006; Lavinder & Pauwels, et al., 2003; Pennington 2012; Radley & Sherlock, 2001; Waitkuwait, 1989)
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