Caiman & howler monkey

[Paul A]

I captured these in Costa Rica. Maybe the howler should be in "glamour and nudity?

[ssim]

That's quite a menacing looking critter in the first one. Was that caught in the wild or at a park? How do you tell if it is a crocodile versus a alligator?

Great shots.

[Paul A]

That was taken at Tortuguero National Park. It is a great place to get close to nature, I was with a guide in a canoe. It is neither a cock or alligator but a spectacled caiman. Crocks are there as well but the caiman's teeth fit into sockets and there are some other tecnical differences which I don't remember. This guy was just maybe 3 feet long. Notice his teeth growing through his jaw? He is wild.

[Bald Eagle]

Excellent photos, he may be only 3foot, but, he looks a lot bigger

[chemicalbro]

very cool photo of the caimen...(that monkey is in need of a chick so he can get rid of some of that excess weight down below ) :)...... SSim the quickest way to tell an alligator from a crockis an alligator has a Broad rounded nose and crocks have a longer more pointed snout........... if you look at the side of a crocks mouth you'll see the 4th tooth on the bottom jaw sits in a groove outside the mouth on the top jaw...... the crock has teeth on both the upper and lower jaw that stick out like this and upper and lower teeth interlock (like scissors)................... on the gator the top jaw almost covers the bottom teeth when the mouth is closed as was said the teeth fit into sockets in the jaw......
(their eyes are also set closer together and more forward on the head than a crock)

a Gator has a WAY more powerful bite...........about 3500 lbs per square inch..(a crock is about 2000lbs)..becasue gators tend to feed on turtles and and hard shelled invertibrates like crabs.whereas the crock feeds on mostly mammals like zebra and wildebeast....... but then if one bites you you're not gonna give a damn wether it was a crock or a gator :)
crocodiles also have salt glands in their mouths which makes them more tolerant of sea water (the main reason crocks are more widespread throughout the world than gators) although gators far outnumber crocks in number.... (about 1000 to 1)
A camen is more closely related to a gator than a crock tho.... (comes from the same species of reptile (alligatoridae) crocks are from the species (crocodylidae) so although they are similar looking they are not even from the same order of reptile....

another difference is that both crocs and gators (camen) have little sensory pits around their mouths for detecting pressure changes in the water so they can detect prey.............. a croc however has these on every scale on their body (thats a great way to tell alligator skin from crock skin even if you can't see the shape of its head because its now a wallet ) :) on crock skin there will be a little dot on the edge of each scale

anyways i'll stop being a crocodile nerd now) :) (i've been interested in crocks and sharks since i was a kid)

[Paul A]

very cool photo of the caimen...(that monkey is in need of a chick so he can get rid of some of that excess weight down below ) :)...... SSim the quickest way to tell an alligator from a crockis an alligator has a Broad rounded nose and crocks have a longer more pointed snout........... if you look at the side of a crocks mouth you'll see the 4th tooth on the bottom jaw sits in a groove outside the mouth on the top jaw...... the crock has teeth on both the upper and lower jaw that stick out like this and upper and lower teeth interlock (like scissors)................... on the gator the top jaw almost covers the bottom teeth when the mouth is closed as was said the teeth fit into sockets in the jaw......
(their eyes are also set closer together and more forward on the head than a crock)

a Gator has a WAY more powerful bite...........about 3500 lbs per square inch..(a crock is about 2000lbs)..becasue gators tend to feed on turtles and and hard shelled invertibrates like crabs.whereas the crock feeds on mostly mammals like zebra and wildebeast....... but then if one bites you you're not gonna give a damn wether it was a crock or a gator :)
crocodiles also have salt glands in their mouths which makes them more tolerant of sea water (the main reason crocks are more widespread throughout the world than gators) although gators far outnumber crocks in number.... (about 1000 to 1)
A camen is more closely related to a gator than a crock tho.... (comes from the same species of reptile (alligatoridae) crocks are from the species (crocodylidae) so although they are similar looking they are not even from the same order of reptile....

another difference is that both crocs and gators (camen) have little sensory pits around their mouths for detecting pressure changes in the water so they can detect prey.............. a croc however has these on every scale on their body (thats a great way to tell alligator skin from crock skin even if you can't see the shape of its head because its now a wallet ) :) on crock skin there will be a little dot on the edge of each scale

anyways i'll stop being a crocodile nerd now) :) (i've been interested in crocks and sharks since i was a kid)

Great info, thanks.

[cfcRebel]

Wow, nice shots Paul! That's a very up close shot of the caiman.

[Maurice]

Where's the ape sitting on? strange type of apples hanging there in the tree. :)

[Paul A]

Thanks Rebel, this guy was not bothered at all by the quiet canoe, noisy motor boats are running tourists through the canals all the time so the canoe probably doesn't faze them.