The Black Caiman
By: Mateo
Did you know that there
is less than 2,000 Black Caimans left in the world, and there is less that
1,000 in the Amazon Rainforest. They live in the rivers, ponds, swamps,
and lakes. Their skin is illegally sold and costs over 1,000 dollars. You
might be wearing them in your feet.
The Black Caiman is
the largest predator in the Amazon Rainforest. Their life span is from
50 to 80 years. They can grow over 6 meters, and could weight over one
ton. They have a big and long jaw, with 68 to 86 replaceable teeth. They
have 4 legs and a long tail. They are greenish black in the top and a yellowish
white in the bottom (their stomach). They have powerful necks, jaws, tail,
and legs. They move really fast and jump with the speed of lightning. They
have a thick skin with scales and spines. The marks from childhood stay
for the rest of their lives. They have sensitive skin because they are
adapted to live in the water were the sun doesn't burn. If they stay too
much time in the ground in the exposure of the sun their skin gets dry
and starts to shed. They get to grow from 60 cm. To one meter tall. They
have a long neck that helps them to digest better and get theirs preys
easier. They have a thick long tail that measures about 40 percent of its
total size, and helps him swim faster. They have big black eyes and two
holes as ears, which they are not very developed. They have two nostrils
on top of the upper jaw, and they can detect blood from a very long distance.
They have long nails and 4 fingers on each paw. The biggest black Caiman
ever found is over 10 meters and weighs more than one ton and a half. All
of this characteristics that the Black Caiman has helped him to catch its
food and survive in the New World.
The Black Caiman is
a carnivore, which means that he eats meat (other animals or humans). He
has a variety of foods to eat in the environment were he lives, like in
the rainforest were he is naturally found, he eats all kinds of fish especially
cat fish who are very tasty and big. He also eats none poisonous snakes
like anacondas and pythons. He also eats mammals like dear jaguars and
buffalo, but he prefers the capybara who are very tasty and havea very
red meat with lots of blood which refresh the Black Caiman. When they are
small they also eat big insects and lizards or any type of little reptile.
But the Black Caiman is feared because he also searches for the human meat,
or someone who is in his way like children in the shore or women cleaning
the cloth. He mainly gets his food from the river. If a Black Caiman has
eaten a good lunch like a whole dear they can spend 3 to 4 days without
eating.
The Black Caiman has
many places were to live but he needs water, because of his skin. The Black
Caiman is mainly found in the Amazon Rainforest. They like to stay rivers
with no flow of water, because if they find a place were they can get their
food easy or there is many food they can stay in the same place without
moving. He also is found in swamps or in parts of the river where there
are many leaves and high river plants. He also likes to lives in lakes
and ponds were the water is not crystalline because they like to hide below
water were there preys can’t see him when he moves. Sometimes when they
are finished eating they like to pose in the sand where sun falls on them.
He also likes to sleep in wholes or below bushes were they can refresh
in the shadow. He needed to adapt to live in some of these places.
The Black Caiman has
adapted some variety of things to survive in the world that is today. Many
years ago there were no mammals and the alligators only fed of fish and
other reptiles. But now they eat mammals, probably because the number of
fish lowered and they had to eat something else, like mammals. They also
adapted a longer tail so they can swim faster in shallow waters. Now the
Black Caiman has stronger legs to run fast in ground and jump with the
speed of lightning. He also has adapted a long and powerful neck to have
fast moves to catch the fish and mammals that are drinking water in the
ponds. They also had to adapt to the humans who came later and destroyed
their habitat, and kill them for their expensive skin. They also adapted
long nails that helped them to get attached to the rocks and run faster
in ground to run their preys. He also has adapted many eye layers to see
better in the brown and green waters of the sweet waters. All of these
adaptations help the Black Caiman protect him.
The Black Caiman has
many ways to protect itself from other caimans and predators. He has fast
surprising moves that are extremely fast and catches you by surprise. He
has really strong legs so they can kick really hard. He also has a big
and powerful jaw with sharp and big teeth that can torn apart a human in
many pieces. When he is threatened he opens his mouth and bites everything
that is in his way. Suppose a human in a boat wants to catch the caiman,
the caiman can turn the boat over and eat the people (he is really dangerous).
He also camouflages in the water and it is almost impossible to see him.
He also goes below water and stays for a very long time. They can also
swim really fast and can escape from the scene really fast. All of these
dangers affect the reproduction of the animal.
The reproduction of
the Black Caiman is really sad. The female Caimans lays about 15 to 40
eggs but only about 10 of them get to live till adulthood. First of all
the male Caimans fight for the females, and the one who wins the fight
is the one who gets to stay with the females, and can reproduce with them.
The male Caiman goes on top and inserts a tube into the female's back hole
and releases sperm into the female's ovaries. Then they start to role together
and go up and down. Then after rolling they stay together for several hours.
What is sad is when the female lays her eggs and some lizards and snakes
eat their eggs or in several occasions the humans take their eggs to study
them. But the female Caiman does get mad and protect her young.
The Black Caiman protects
its young and takes a lot of care on them. One single loss of a child could
mean a lot for the mother. When the baby Caimans are about to hatch sometimes
they can't get out of their eggs and the mother helps by braking the egg.
When the predator or enemy comes the female Black Caiman places her babies
in her mouth and travels out of the danger place. The mom becomes furious
easily and could attack anything that is threading her and her babies.
She needs to be like that because enemies kill their children and her.
The children stay with their mom until they can't hunt or get their food
by themselves. That happens like in the age of 4 to 6 years. Some of the
predators that the Black caiman has is the jaguar, big snakes, other caimans,
and big lizards. These are some animals the Black Caimans need to face
with when he or she is growing up. Those fights and problems they need
to face with makes the animal be endangered.
The Black Caiman is
an endangered animal because during the past years hunters have been killing
them for their expensive skin, that they illegally sell, and costs over
1000 dollars. The population from 1980 to now has decreased its number
by 99 percent. There are less than 2000 black Caimans left in the world.
Also the Black Caiman has a long time period of pregnancy, that's about
1-year long, so during that time there is a high probability that the animal
gets killed. Also when they lay eggs the lozards eat them or humans take
them to study them.
I think that the Black
Caiman should not be killed, because if you don't bother them they are
not going to bite you, and what has the Black Caiman done to you so you
kill them. The Black Caiman has been in this world before than the humans,
and they have the same rights than us. Also it is interesting how an animal
that has been here before us evolves in the world that is today. Furthermore
the same god made him as us, so we should have respect to them.
http://www.rhrwildlife.com/theanimals/c/caiman/
http://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/crocodileII_highlights.shtml
