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A group of Nile crocodiles close together

Crocodile family

Crocodiles and the dwarf crocodile are a family of reptiles within the Crocodile order. The Nile crocodile, American Crocodile and mugger crocodile are example members of this family.

Did you know?
A crocodile can't stick out its tongue. This is because of a membrane which holds the tongue in place.

Scientific name: Crocodylidae

Rank: Family

Distribution

Map showing the distribution of the Crocodile family taxa

The shading illustrates the diversity of this group - the darker the colour the greater the number of species. Data provided by WWF's Wildfinder.

Explore this group

Crocodiles Crocodiles
Crocodiles in this genus are believed to have changed very little in the past 20 million years. They may even have been around during the extinction of the dinosaurs.

When they lived

Discover the other animals and plants that lived during the following geological time periods.

About

Bilateria

A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e. the true crocodiles, the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae) and the gharials (family Gavialidae), as well as the Crocodylomorpha, which include prehistoric crocodile relatives and ancestors.

Member species of the family Crocodylidae are large aquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Crocodiles tend to congregate in freshwater habitats such as rivers, lakes, wetlands and sometimes in brackish water. They feed mostly on vertebrates - fish, reptiles, and mammals, and sometimes on invertebrates - molluscs and crustaceans, depending on species. They first appeared during the Eocene epoch, about 55 million years ago.

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