What is a saltwater crocodile?
The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile, found in rivers, estuaries and coastal waters across northern Australia. Large males can exceed six metres in length and weigh over a tonne.
Despite their name, saltwater crocodiles live in both salt and fresh water, travelling far up rivers and into billabongs. They are found from Broome in Western Australia across the Top End to around Rockhampton in Queensland, and also in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Salties are ambush predators. They wait almost submerged, with only eyes and nostrils showing, then lunge at prey such as fish, birds, wallabies, pigs and even buffalo. They have one of the strongest bites ever measured in any animal.
Crocodile safety
Crocodiles were hunted heavily until they were protected in the Northern Territory in 1971 and later across Australia. Numbers have recovered strongly, and today there are thought to be around 100,000 or more in the Northern Territory alone.
Visitors to northern Australia should never swim in rivers, estuaries or beaches where crocodiles may live, and should stay well back from the water's edge. Warning signs mark known crocodile habitat.
Female salties build mound nests of vegetation and guard their eggs. The temperature of the nest decides whether hatchlings are male or female.
Did You Know?
Saltwater crocodiles can live for more than 70 years.