Crocodiles are about 55 million years old, They live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. They are the survivors, the closest thing to a dinosaur you will see that is Alive! Sea turtles are an older spices, they have been around for about 150 Million years, but they don’t really have the same kind of threatening menace that a crocodile does. Crocodiles look like they belong in the primeval soup and given the chance they will drag you in there with them and have you for diner with a nice leg of wildebeest for desert.
The word crocodile comes from the Ancient Greek κροκόδιλος (crocodilos), “lizard,” used in the phrase ho krokódilos ho potamós, “the lizard of the (Nile) river.”
The American Crocodile is considered threatened Due to hide hunting, pollution, loss of habitat, and removal of adults for commercial farming, it is endangered in parts of its range. In 1972, Venezuela banned commercial crocodile skin harvesting for a decade, as a result of 1950s and 1960s overhunting.
The Siamese crocodile Classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List
The Crocodile is an Icon of how life can prevail. At the end of the Eocene period from which it is first recognised to have come from (56-35 Million years ago) there was a massive extinction event called Grande Coupure or the “Great Break”. It caused widespread extinctions and isolated may spices forcing them to evolve. The crocodile Came through unscathed.
This is the start of an illustration of a crocodile. I’ve nearly finished the drawing , soon on with the watercolour.
images © Daniel Mackie