CONFIRMATION OF THE PRESENCE OF THE AMERICAN CROCODILE IN CAYO NORTE, BANCO CHINCHORRO ATOLL

Pierre Charruau; David A. Macías Díaz

doi:10.22201/fc.25942158e.2026.1.1404

Authors

Pierre Charruau El Colegio de la Frontera Sur https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7829-9469
David A. Macías Díaz Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8868-3533

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/fc.25942158e.2026.1.1404

Keywords:

Crocodylus acutus, Range expansion, Caribbean islands

Abstract

The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is a large crocodile that inhabits coastal, continental and insular hypersaline to freshwater environments, from northern Mexico and southern Florida to northern Peru and Venezuela. In the Mexican Caribbean, C. acutus has been observed on several islands, including Banco Chinchorro Atoll, which hosts a population that is recovering from a critical decline in the early 1980s. The crocodile population is on the main island of the atoll, Cayo Centro. There are some reports of sightings of individuals on Cayo Norte, a smaller island in the northern part of the atoll, but these have never been verified. In the present document, we report the first verified sighting of a crocodile in Cayo Norte, probably coming from Cayo Centro.

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