Slender snouted Crocodile - Mecistops cataphractus

[Ceratodromeus]

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Crocodylia
Family: Crocodylidae
Subfamily: Crocodylinae
Genus: Mecistops
Species: M. cataphractus

Description
This is a mid sized species of crocodile, with adult animals measuring around the 3m(9.8ft)mark. The largest recorded animal measured approximately 4m(13ft){1} in total length. They resemble the false gharial(Tomistoma) in body coloration and morphology, possessing a mottled dark brown and tan coloration. Distinctive dark colored barring can be found on the lower jaw. The elongated snout which gives the species its common name is an adaptation commonly seen in the Crocodylidae family. This helps reduce drag while the animal is hunting fish or other aquatic animals. Studies in the early 2000's have established that this species is distinct from the Crocodylus genus, based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA analysis{2}.


Habitat & Geographic distribution
This species is never found to be far from the water, preferring rivers and tributaries with overhanging foliage which provide cover sun exposure. Their numbers have been depleted over the years due to over hunting, but they can be found from Guinea, to the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is a range overlap with the African dwarf crocodile, but avoid excessive competition via dissimilar ecological niches & different habitat preferences{1}.
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Dietary habits
The vast majority of this species' diet consists of fish, such as claroteid catfish(Chrysicthys spp.), Distichodus notospilus, Characidiform fishes(nanopetersius spp.), and Cichlids(Tilapia spp.){3}. However, they are known to prey on an array of  mammals and birds. Known prey animals include small rodents (Rodentia), Duikers(Cephalophinae), gennets(Viverrinae), and primates(Cercopithecus sp.). Observations on this species indicate the slender snouted crocodile feeds on annelids, amphibians, and small reptiles{1}.

Reproduction
Mating occurs in the rainy season of this species' distribution, around April. Not much is known on the reproduction(or much of the species natural history) of the slender snouted crocodile. However, observations of the species indicate that it constructs nest mounds out of vegetation it finds close to the waters' edge. In fact, not even the mounds are constructed far(approximately 3m) from the water. The mounds measure roughly 58cm(22.8in) in height, 134cm(52in) long, and 152cm(59in) in width. A typical clutch size numbers 16(+/-7); the individual eggs measure around 85.5mm(3.3in) in length, and are 52mm(2in) in diameter. The eggs hatch in July, around 130 days after being laid. Like all other crocodilians, the maternal animal will often guard the clutch until the eggs hatch. Upon hatching, the young measure 315mm(12.4in) in total length. The maternal animal will free the young once she hears the young vocalizing -- a trademark behavior of the Crocodylidae{1}.


References
{1} Waitkuwait, W. E. "Present knowledge on the West African slender-snouted crocodile, Crocodylus cataphractus Cuvier 1824 and the West African dwarf crocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis, Cope 1861." Crocodiles. Their Ecology, Management, and Conservation (1986): 260-275.
{2}McAliley, L. Rex, et al. "Are crocodiles really monophyletic?—evidence for subdivisions from sequence and morphological data." Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 39.1 (2006): 16-32.
{3}Pauwels, Olivier SG, et al. "Diet records for Crocodylus cataphractus (Reptilia: Crocodylidae) at Lake Divangui, Ogooué-Maritime Province, south-western Gabon." HAMADRYAD-MADRAS- 27 (2003): 200-204.

[Ceratodromeus]

Climbing behavior in extant crocodilians
"Extant crocodilians are generally considered to be
predominantly or semi-aquatic. And, although the
role of terrestrial activity in their natural history is
increasingly recognized (see, for example, an overview
of terrestrial hunting in crocodilians in Dinets, 2011),
they are virtually never thought of as animals capable
of climbing. Their non-arboreality is often taken for
granted in various analyses of tetrapod limb evolution
and behaviour of extinct Archosauria (see BirnJeffery
et al., 2012, for a discussion of the subject
and a bibliography). Climbing behaviour in extant
crocodilians has never been described in detail in the
scientific literature, though it was briefly mentioned by
Tarsitano & Hecht (1980), Frey (1988), and, earlier,
Guggisberg (1972) who wrote that baby crocodiles “can
climb into bushes, up trees and even hang on reeds like
chameleons.”
Despite this limited documentation, the ability of
crocodilians (mostly juveniles) to climb trees is well
known to local residents in some locations. They
reported routinely observing basking in mangrove
trees by juvenile American crocodiles (Crocodylus
acutus) near Tulum (Quintana Roo, Mexico, Jason
Cleinsten pers. comm.), in mangrove trees up to 10 m
above ground by juveniles of the same species in Isla
de Salamanca National Park (Barranquila, Colombia,
Juan Cabrera pers. comm.) and by juvenile estuarine
crocodiles (C. porosus) near Sorong (West Papua,
Indonesia, Benyamin Syatfle pers. comm.). A photo
of a Nile crocodile (C. niloticus) climbing a low
tree trunk was obtained in March 2012 by Grant and
Dimari Oliver in Okavango Delta, Botswana (Larien
Spies pers. comm.). Photos of a juvenile New Guinea
crocodile (C. novaeguineae) basking on a tree trunk
growing at an angle were taken at Elevala River (Papua
New Guinea) by Michael Lech (pers. comm.). A photo
of a Philippine crocodile (C. mindorensis) in a tree
can be seen in van Weerd & van der Ploeg (2012).
Crocodiles (presumably Central African slendersnouted
crocodile Mecistops cataphractus, see notes
on taxonomy below) are reportedly often observed in
Odzala-Kokoua National Park (Republic of Congo)
as they bask in trees in very dense rainforest (Jackie
Appleton unpubl. obs.). Juvenile Siamese crocodiles
(C. siamensis) in Laos (Octávio Mateus pers. comm.)
and American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) in
USA (Shawn Heflick pers. comm.) have been observed "

"Tree-climbing in the Central African slender-snouted
crocodile
Of all the crocodilians, tree-climbing behaviour is most
discussed for the slender-snouted crocodiles of Central
Africa, particularly in Gabon. M.H.S. has observed
slender-snouted crocodiles 0.40 – 2.0 m total length
(by visual estimate) basking on fallen trees over river
courses both during the day and at night. Observations
were made along the N’gowe and Echira Rivers of
Loango National Park (Gabon, S2.225/E9.679, N >
50), Dji Dji River of Ivindo National Park (Gabon,
N0.16/E12.74, N >10), Bongo River of MoukalabaDoudou
National Park (Gabon, S2.53/E10.14, N = 3),
and the Epulu River in the Okapi Faunal Reserve (DRC,
N1.50/E28.68, N = 2). The day “roosts” tended to be in
more exposed portions of the trees than night “roosts,”
presumably due to the use of emerged trees as basking
sites along closed canopy rivers where terrestrial sites
are not readily available. Night “roosts,” however, were
just as open about 50% of the time, making it difficult
to say whether the crocodiles sought out these roosts at
night or simply remained there after daytime basking.
The frequency of daytime versus nighttime basking on
trees was approximately equal, and the frequency of the
behaviour is so great that crocodiles and African darters
(Anhinga rufa) are equal candidates for glimpses of
animals jumping off trees into the water throughout this
area. Tree-basking crocodiles were significantly warier
during the daytime, usually dropping off the basking
site on first sight of the survey crew (> 50 m), than
crocodiles tree-basking at night, which could often be
approached and hand-grabbed or noose captured off the
trees. The tree “roost” sites ranged from 0.25 – 3.0 m
above the surface of the water, though on one occasion a
1.4 m individual was seen basking at the end of a fallen
tree about 5 m out from the bank and 4 m above the
surface of the water – to reach this site the crocodile
would have had to scale a 4 m completely vertical bank
and then walk amongst the branches to reach the end
of the tree. A photo series taken of a smaller crocodile
walking down a tree trunk shows how they navigate
the branches (Fig. 2). Interestingly, while abundant
anecdotal information and pictures exist of slendersnouted
crocodiles tree basking throughout Central
Africa (e.g., largely from tourists and NGO employees),
there are no records or anecdotal accounts of this
behaviour in West Africa. West and Central African
slender-snouted crocodiles are in the process of being
recognized as distinct species (Shirley et al., 2014) and
this could reflect interspecies behavioural divergence
despite ecological niche convergence. No observations
have been made by M.H.S. of Osteolaemus sp. or
Crocodylus sp. in West or Central Africa exhibiting
tree-climbing behaviour despite individuals of these
two species often occupying elevated bank sites ranging
from 0.25 to even 10 m above the surface of the water
where banks ranged from gradual to vertical slopes."

herpetologynotes.seh-herpetology.org/Volume7_PDFs/Dinets_HerpetologyNotes_volume7_pages3-7.pdf

[Ceratodromeus]

Good news!
Africa's rarest crocodile under special protection program


"The fate of a crocodile species considered as Africa’s newest and rarest is being tied to a zoo in the heart of Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan, which faced an uncertain future not long ago.

The crocodile is slender and snouted and was discovered by an American scientist in the zoo itself but now it’s in struggle to survive.

“Essentially what we did, we kind of looked at some of the historic literature, and I don’t mean from 20 or 30 years ago, I mean from 150 years ago at what some of these very early British and French natural historians were recognising about crocodiles across the landscape and what they were describing as unique species, based on what characters and why, and some of them made sense, or maybe made sense. Some of them didn’t. We kind of overlaid some of those hypotheses about species on the landscape, on the west and central African landscape and said ok, we’ve got a bunch of deserts here, we’ve got a mountain chain here, we’ve got habitat that’s totally inappropriate here, its never been appropriate for the past 20 thousand years. So what does that mean for those crocodile populations, “ said conservation biologist Matt Shirley, who discovered the West African Slender-snouted crocodile species.

The zoo also has a breeding programme for the crocodiles and is receiving assistance from partner organisations in the United States. So far, the breeding efforts have produced around 40 young crocodiles.

Some of young crocodiles are now two years old, and Shirley is negotiating with the government to reintroduce them into the wild – first in Ivory Coast and then elsewhere in West Africa. Today, no more than 1,500 West African Slender-snouted Crocodile are believed to exist in the wild, scattered across a territory extending from Gambia to Nigeria."
www.africanews.com/2017/02/10/africa-s-rarest-crocodile-under-special-protection-program/