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The spectacled caiman

The spectacled caiman

Of the five crocodiles or caiman species in Venezuela, the "babo" or "babilla" -also called "spectacled caiman" or "jacaretinga"- is one of the smallest world saurians, whose larger individuals reach about two meters in body length.

These reptiles live in the freshwater lakes, the Orinoco plain waterways and coastal lagoons and rivers. Although their life is so tied to the fresh water habitat, and they also feed with animal prey associated with the water, the females always lay their eggs in nests in a dry high place.

They mate during the first rains and build nests with soil, small twigs and leaves in high and secure places, nearby to the water body where live. There the female lays thirty hard rough-shelled eggs, of about six centimeters of long.

Two months later, the young leave the shell helped by the mother or cutting from the inside with a small disposable "egg tooth" they grow in the tip of the snout. Their meat and their skin constitute a wildlife resource that confers economic value to the llanos conservation programs.

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The Laughing gull | Venezuelan Snake