Wildlife
Alligators and caimans contain eight living species, seven of which are found in the Americas. The American alligator is the biggest member of the family and Cuvier's dwarf caiman is the smallest.
Scientific name: Alligatoridae
Rank: Family
In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on.
Black caiman catch
Steve Backshall catches up with a young caiman hiding out in the reeds and rushes.
Steve Backshall catches up with a young caiman hiding out in the reeds and rushes.
Monster caiman
Infra-red camera traps capture shots of a 4m long black caiman, largest of the alligators.
Infra-red camera traps capture shots of a 4m long black caiman, largest of the alligators.
Caiman backlash
Steve Backshall experiences a nasty bite from a wild animal while looking for anaconda.
Steve Backshall experiences a nasty bite from a wild animal while looking for anaconda.
Miniature croc
Steve Backshall finds a baby caiman delightful, until it starts calling for its mum.
Steve Backshall finds a baby caiman delightful, until it starts calling for its mum.
The shading illustrates the diversity of this group - the darker the colour the greater the number of species. Data provided by WWF's Wildfinder.
Alligatoridae is a family of crocodylians that includes alligators and caimans.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. If you find the content in the 'About' section factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia. For more information on our use of Wikipedia please read our FAQ.
BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
