Crocodile caiman. Crocodile caiman (Caiman crocodiles)

Origin of the species and description

In the origin of caimans, scientists agree that their ancient ancestors are extinct reptiles - pseudosuchia. They lived about 230 million years ago and gave rise to dinosaurs and crocodiles. Ancient caimans differed from modern representatives of the genus more long paws and short muzzle. About 65 million years ago, dinosaurs became extinct, and crocodiles, including caimans, were able to adapt and survive in new conditions.

Video: Cayman

The genus of caimans is part of the alligator family, a class of reptiles, but stands out as an independent unit due to its features external structure. On the belly of caimans, in the process of evolution, a bone frame was formed in the form of plates connected by movable joints. Such protective "armor" well protects caimans from attack. predatory fish. One more distinctive feature these reptiles are considered to lack a bony septum in the nasal cavity, so their skull has a common nostril passage.

An interesting fact: "Caimans, unlike alligators and real ones, do not have lacrimal glands in the structure of the eyes, so they cannot live in highly saline waters."

The body structure of caimans is adapted to life in aquatic conditions. In order to easily drift through the water and unexpectedly hit the prey, the body of the caiman is flattened in height, the head is flat with an elongated muzzle, short legs and strong a long tail. In the eyes there are special membranes that close when immersed in water. On land, these adjoining ones can move quite quickly, and young individuals can even run at a gallop.

Interesting fact: “Caimans are capable of producing sounds. In adults, this sound resembles the barking of a dog, and in caiman babies, it is the croaking of a frog.

The genus of caimans includes 5 species, two of which (Caiman latirostris and venecilensis) have already become extinct.

Currently, 3 types of caimans can be found in nature:

Caiman crocodile or common, spectacled (has four subspecies);
Caiman broad-nosed or broad-nosed (no subspecies);
Caiman Paraguayan or piranha, Yakarsky (no subspecies).

Appearance and features

Representatives of the three types of caimans are similar to each other, but have individual external differences.

Crocodile caiman is characterized by such external signs:

Dimensions - body length of males - 1.8-2 meters, and females - 1.2-1.4 meters;
Body weight is in the range from 7 to 40 kg. The muzzle has an elongated shape with a narrowed front end. Between the eyes there are bone outgrowths that create the appearance of glasses, hence the name of this species. On the outer part of the eye there is a triangular ridge, which they inherited from their progenitors;
There are 72-78 teeth in the mouth, the upper jaw covers the lower teeth. On the lower jaw, the first and fourth teeth are quite large, due to which notches were formed on the upper jaw;
The color of an adult varies from dark green to Brown, and the young have a yellow-green color with contrasting spots on the body.

An interesting fact: “Crocodile caimans change their body color to black at low temperatures. This ability of his skin is provided by pigment cells - melanophores.

The wide-faced caiman, in comparison with other species, has the following features:

Sizes - males up to 2 meters in length, but there are representatives up to 3.5 meters. Females are shorter;
The muzzle of the caiman is wide and large, along it there are bone growths;
On the upper jaw there are no recesses for large teeth of the lower, as in the crocodile caiman;
Body - on the back there is a lot of dense ossified scales, and on the stomach there are several rows of bone plates;
The color is olive green, but lighter. There are dark spots on the skin of the lower jaw.

The Paraguayan caiman has such features appearance:

Dimensions - body length is often within 2 meters, but among males there are individuals of 2.5 - 3 meters;
The structure of the jaw, like that of a crocodile caiman;
The body color is brown, varying between light and dark tones. There are dark brown stripes on the body and tail.

Where does the caiman live?

The habitat of these reptiles is quite wide and depends on the thermal preference of caimans. The territory of distribution of the crocodile caiman is tropical and subtropical reservoirs of South and Central America. It is found from Guatemala and Mexico to Peru and Brazil. One of its subspecies (fuscus) was relocated to the territory of certain American states bordering the Caribbean Sea (Cuba, Puerto Rico).

The crocodile caiman prefers bodies of water with stagnant fresh water, near big rivers and lakes, as well as wet lowlands. For a short time he can live in salt water, no more than two days.

The broad-faced caiman is more resistant to low temperatures, therefore, it is found along the line of the Atlantic coast in the reservoirs of Brazil, in Paraguay, Bolivia, and northern Argentina. His favorite place wetlands and small river inlets with fresh, sometimes slightly salty water serve as habitats. It can also settle in ponds near human habitations.

The Paraguayan caiman prefers to live in areas with warm climate. It lives in the south of Brazil and Bolivia, in the north of Argentina, Paraguay in marshy lowlands. Often it can be seen among floating plant islands.

What does a caiman eat?

Caimans, unlike their larger predatory relatives, are not adapted to eat large animals. This fact is due to the structure of the jaw, the small size of the body, as well as the initial fearfulness of these reptiles.

Living mainly in wetlands, caimans can profit from such animals:

aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates;
amphibians;
small reptiles;
small mammals.

In the diet of young animals, insects that land on water predominate. As they grow, they switch to feeding on larger prey - crustaceans, mollusks, river fish, frogs, small rodents. Adult individuals are able to feed themselves a medium-sized, dangerous turtle.

Caimans swallow their prey whole, without biting it. Turtles with their thick shells are considered an exception. For broad-faced and Paraguayan caimans, water snails are a particularly tasty delicacy. Due to this preference in nutrition, these reptiles are considered the orderlies of reservoirs, as they regulate the number of these mollusks.

Another name for the Paraguayan caiman is piranha, because it eats these predatory fish, thereby regulating their population. Caimans also have cases of cannibalism.

Features of character and lifestyle

These reptiles live most often alone and can sometimes live in pairs or groups, usually during the breeding season. When dry times come, they gather in groups in search of water bodies that have not yet dried up.

Interesting fact: “During a drought, some representatives of caimans burrow deep into the silt and hibernate.”

For the purpose of camouflage in the daytime, caimans prefer to live in the mud or among the thickets, where they can, hiding, calmly bask in the sun. most time. Disturbed caimans will rapidly return to the water. Females come to land to make a nest there and lay their eggs.

At night, as soon as dusk falls, these reptiles go hunting in their undersea world. When hunting, they completely sink under water, sticking out only their nostrils and eyes to the surface.

Interesting fact: “In the structure of the eyes of a caiman, there are more rods than cones. Therefore, they can see perfectly at night.

These reptiles have a relatively calm, peaceful and even timid character, therefore they do not attack people and large animals for the purpose of prey. This behavior is partly due to their small size. Caimans live from 30 to 40 years, in captivity, life expectancy is shorter.

Social structure and reproduction

In the caiman population, as a structural unit, there is a hierarchy among males in terms of body size and puberty. That is, in a particular habitat, only the largest and most mature male is considered dominant and can breed. The rest of the males living with him on the same site have little chance of being allowed to breed.

Caimans are considered sexually mature when they have reached the body length of an adult individual at the age of 4 to 7 years. At the same time, females are smaller in size than males. A suitable period for procreation lasts from May to August. During the rainy season, females make nests for laying eggs, near the habitat in the bushes or under trees. Nests are formed from plants and clay, and sometimes they simply dig a hole in the sand.

To save offspring, the female can build several nests or team up with others to create a common nest, after which they can monitor it together. Sometimes even the male can look after the nest while the female hunts. One female lays 15-40 eggs the size of a goose or chicken egg. In order for individuals of both sexes to hatch in one clutch, the female lays eggs in two layers to create a temperature difference.

Embryo maturation occurs within 70-90 days. In March, little caimans are ready to be born. They emit "croaking" sounds and the mother begins to dig them out. Then in the mouth it transfers them to the reservoir. In the process of growing up, the young are always close to their mother, who protects them from external enemies. One female can protect not only her cubs, but also strangers. Young individuals actively grow the first two years, then their growth slows down. Larger and more active individuals immediately stand out in the group of growing caimans, they will later occupy the top in their adult hierarchy.

Natural enemies of caimans

Despite the fact that caimans are predatory animals, they themselves are part of food chain larger and more aggressive predators. All three types of caimans can become prey for, large anacondas, giant , flocks of large vagrants . Living in the same area with real crocodiles and black caimans (this is a South American crocodile), these small reptiles often become their victims.

After laying her eggs, the female must make no small effort and patience to protect the nest and her eggs from large lizards, which ruin up to a quarter of caimans' nests. Now to natural enemies caimans are also people.

Man has such a negative impact on the caiman population:

Harms the habitat - this includes deforestation, pollution of water bodies with waste from hydroelectric power plants, plowing of new agricultural plots;
Reducing the number of individuals as a result of poaching activities. The skin of these reptiles is difficult to process for the manufacture of leather products, the only exception is the broad-faced species. Crocodile caimans, for their small size and peaceful disposition, often caught for sale in private terrariums.

Interesting fact: “In 2013, caimans living in the Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica were victims of pesticide poisoning that entered the Rio Suerte from banana plantations.”

Population and species status

The number of individuals in the caiman population was significantly reduced in the middle of the 20th century as a result of uncontrolled capture and trade. This historical fact is due to the fact that by this time crocodiles with valuable skin types were on the verge of extermination. Therefore, people, in order to replenish the market of leather products with raw materials, began to hunt caimans, even though their skin is suitable for processing only from the sides of the body.

Caiman skin is less valued (about 10 times), but at the same time, a significant part of the world market is filled with it today. Despite the scale of the harmful human action, the caiman population has been preserved, thanks to measures to protect this genus of animals and their high adaptability to changing living conditions. In crocodile caimans, the approximate number of individuals in the population is 1 million, in broad-faced caimans - 250-500 thousand, and in Paraguayan this figure is much lower - 100-200 thousand.

Since caimans are predators, they play a regulatory role in nature. Eating small rodents, snakes, mollusks, beetles, worms, they are considered ecosystem cleaners. And thanks to eating piranhas, they maintain the population of non-predatory fish. In addition, caimans enrich shallow streams with nitrogen contained in the animal's waste.

Cayman protection

All three species of caimans are under the animal protection program of the CITES trade convention. Since the population of crocodile caimans is higher, they are included in Appendix II of this Convention. According to the appendix, these species of caimans may be endangered by uncontrolled trade in their representatives. In Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, their species is under protection, and in Panama and Colombia, hunting for them is strictly limited. In Cuba and Puerto Rico, he was specially settled in local reservoirs for breeding.

On the other hand, the Apaporis common caiman, which lives in the southeast of Colombia, is included in Appendix I of the CITES Convention, that is, this species is endangered and its trade is possible only as an exception. There are no more than one thousand representatives of this subspecies. The broad-faced species of caimans is also included in CITES Appendix I, rather because its skin is the most suitable for making leather products from it. In addition, they often try to pass it off as a high-quality fake leather.

The Paraguayan species of caimans is listed in the International Red Book. In order to increase its population, special programs have been developed that are being implemented in Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. In Argentina and Brazil, they are trying to breed a population of these unpretentious reptiles, creating conditions for them in "crocodile" farms. And in Bolivia, they adapt to their breeding in natural conditions.

Caiman quite unusual animals living on our planet. They are interesting for their history, bizarre and, at the same time, alarming appearance, as well as an unpretentious way of life. Since they are the most ancient inhabitants of the Earth, they have the right to respect and support from humanity.

Crocodiles are different - large and small. There are those who will gladly feast on you at the first opportunity, and there are those who will also be happy to live in your bath, just feed on time and taste better. When talking about small crocodiles, they most often mean caimans. Here we will talk about them, or rather read them.

The main habitats of crocodile caimans are Central and South America. About 3-5 species of caimans live in this vast territory. natural places their habitats have become tropical and subtropical reservoirs with dense vegetation, small rivers, lakes, ponds or sea coast, because some species are tolerant of brackish water. The latter circumstance allowed them to move to nearby islands, including Trinidad and Tobago.

Caimans love to hide in aquatic vegetation and this habit has played into their hands. Floating islands played a big role in their distribution, which often floated downstream or even into the open ocean, taking small crocodiles with them.

Crocodile caimans are small reptiles. The length of males reaches 2-2.5 meters, while females grow no more than 1.5 meters. Adults are olive green in color, while juveniles are yellow or brown with black spots and stripes scattered all over the body. Caimans can change their color depending on body temperature. They darken and eventually become olive brown.

adult

yellowish baby

Caimans can communicate. During danger, small crocodiles make short hissing sounds, in adults they are more hoarse and drawn out.

Fish, shellfish, amphibians, freshwater crabs - all this makes up the main diet of caimans. Larger individuals attack small mammals and birds. Young crocodiles feed mainly on arthropods and aquatic insects.

Their breeding season begins in May and lasts until August. In July-August, females begin to build or look for nests. In one clutch there are from 15 to 40 eggs. During the entire incubation period, the female remains near the nest and guards the clutch. The main enemy here is the teyu lizards, which hunt for these eggs. Sometimes they can destroy up to 80% of masonry. Crocodiles hatch after 90 days. At first, they stay close to their mother.

Over the past decade, the number of crocodile caimans has declined sharply due to hunting for their skin. All subspecies are listed in the International Red Book.

Systematics

Russian name - Crocodile or spectacled caiman

Latin name - Caiman crocodilus

English name - Spectacled caiman

Class - Reptiles or Reptiles (Reptilia)

Squad - Crocodiles (Crocodylia)

Family - Alligators (Alligatoridae)

Genus - Spectacled caimans (Caiman)

3-4 subspecies are distinguished, differing in color, size and outline of the skull.

conservation status

By international status belongs to the category of species, the existence of which in nature causes the least concern. However, the species is included in Appendix II of CITES, i.e. trade in crocodile caimans should be controlled. The number of different subspecies in different countries different. The crocodile caiman is protected in Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela, and its hunting is limited in Colombia and Panama.

View and person

Like most crocodiles, the crocodile caiman is harvested for the famous "crocodile skin". True, because of the abdominal shields (osteoderms), only the skin from the sides of the animal is suitable for dressing, which saved the crocodile caiman from extermination. Intensive hunting for these caimans began after the 1950s, when other species of crocodiles were almost destroyed. Now crocodile caimans are successfully bred on farms. At present, the natural populations of crocodile caimans are quite stable due to the high adaptability of the species, the extermination of other crocodiles (enemies and competitors) by humans, and the increase in the area of artificial reservoirs.

Distribution and habitats

The range of the crocodile caiman is much wider than that of all other members of the alligator family. It occupies Central and South America from Mexico to Brazil and Peru. There are introduced (imported) populations of crocodile caiman in Cuba and in the USA (Florida).

This caiman prefers calm lakes, marshes, banks of tributaries of large slow-flowing rivers. Does not avoid brackish waters, which gave him the opportunity to settle on the islands Caribbean including the islands of Trinidad and Tabago.

Appearance

The crocodile caiman is a medium-sized alligator, with a rather long narrowed snout and large teeth (there can be from 72 to 78). The length of males is 1.8-2 m, females 1.2-1.4 m. The maximum recorded size is 2.2 m. The body weight of adults ranges from 7 to 40 kg. The skull is outwardly similar to the skull of real crocodiles, for which the caimans got their name. And the bone outgrowths on the head between the eyes and around them resemble glasses, which gave rise to the second name of this caiman.

Almost all the skin on the body of the crocodile caiman is covered with dense rows of large scutes. This "armor" protects caimans from both predators and humans. Since such skin is very difficult to dress, crocodile caimans were killed less than other crocodiles.

Young crocodile caimans are yellow with black spots and stripes all over the body, adults are olive green. They are able to slightly change color with the help of special cells in the skin, for example, in cold weather caimans become darker.

Lifestyle

The whole life of crocodile caimans is associated with wet lowlands near water bodies, most often stagnant. They like to hide in dense thickets of aquatic plants, and floating islands of various plants play an important role in their life, which not only provide shelter for young crocodiles, but can also carry them over long distances, including by sea.

An important role in the daily activity of crocodile caimans is played by solar radiation. Usually, in the hottest time of the day, caimans plunge into the water (at a water temperature of 29-300), and in the evening they come ashore, where they stay almost all night. Thus, due to behavioral thermoregulation, body temperature remains fairly stable - during the day 30-330, at night - 26-300.

In a severe drought, caimans burrow into the mud at the bottom of a reservoir or into the forest floor.

There is an opinion among scientists that crocodile caimans play an important role in local aquatic biocenoses, as they regulate the population predatory piranhas don't let them multiply too much.

In nature, crocodile caimans have quite a few enemies. These are jaguars large anacondas, other larger crocodiles. Caiman eggs are often eaten by large ground tegu lizards.

Nutrition

The main food of crocodile caimans is shellfish, freshwater crabs, fish, amphibians, small reptiles, aquatic birds and mammals. Larger males may grab more big booty- wild pigs, anacondas. Cases of cannibalism are known, i.e. eating individuals of their own species. Young caimans feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates.

In general, the diet of crocodile caimans is quite diverse, and in different parts area there is a significant food selectivity of these crocodiles.

Vocalization

Crocodile caimans are rather "talkative" animals, and their "colloquial" repertoire changes with age. In danger, small crocodiles make a short creaking croaking sound, older animals hiss, and adults bark loudly.

reproduction

Male and female crocodile caiman become sexually mature at the age of 4 to 7 years with a body size of 1.4 m and 1.2 m, respectively. growth rate mating season lasts from May to August. After mating, the female builds a nest of rotting plants in dense vegetation, where she lays from 15 to 40 eggs covered with a hard calcined shell. Sometimes several females lay eggs in one nest. The incubation period lasts from 65 to 100 days, with an average of 90 days, depending on local conditions. All this time, the female is near the nest, driving away potential enemies from it. The hatched cubs stay close to the female for some time.

Lifespan

There is no exact information about the life span of crocodile caimans, but presumably - 30-40 years.

Since crocodile caimans are relatively small alligators, they are fairly regular in young age plant in private collections. Unfortunately, very often the owners of such collections try to get rid of the caimans as soon as they grow up, sometimes even throwing them into the nearest water bodies, dooming them to certain death. The Moscow Zoo has repeatedly been forced to accept such grown caimans in order to save their lives and provide decent living conditions. Now in the Exotarium pavilion, visitors to our zoo can see one of these forced migrants at the exposition.

Systematics

Russian name - Crocodile or spectacled caiman

Latin name - Caiman crocodilus

English name - Spectacled caiman

Class - Reptiles or Reptiles (Reptilia)

Squad - Crocodiles (Crocodylia)

Family - Alligators (Alligatoridae)

Genus - Spectacled caimans (Caiman)

3-4 subspecies are distinguished, differing in color, size and outline of the skull.

conservation status

According to the international status, it belongs to the category of species, the existence of which in nature causes the least concern. However, the species is included in Appendix II of CITES, i.e. trade in crocodile caimans should be controlled. The number of different subspecies in different countries is different. The crocodile caiman is protected in Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela, and its hunting is limited in Colombia and Panama.

View and person

Distribution and habitats

This caiman prefers calm lakes, marshes, banks of tributaries of large slow-flowing rivers. Does not avoid brackish waters, which gave him the opportunity to settle in the islands of the Caribbean, including the islands of Trinidad and Tabago.

Appearance

Lifestyle

Solar radiation plays an important role in the daily activity of crocodile caimans. Usually, in the hottest time of the day, caimans plunge into the water (at a water temperature of 29-300), and in the evening they come ashore, where they stay almost all night. Thus, due to behavioral thermoregulation, body temperature remains fairly stable - during the day 30-330, at night - 26-300.

In a severe drought, caimans burrow into the mud at the bottom of a reservoir or into the forest floor.

There is an opinion among scientists that crocodile caimans play a big role in local aquatic biocenoses, as they regulate the number of predatory piranhas, do not let them multiply too much.

In nature, crocodile caimans have quite a few enemies. These are jaguars, large anacondas, other larger crocodiles. Caiman eggs are often eaten by large ground tegu lizards.

Nutrition

The main food of crocodile caimans is shellfish, freshwater crabs, fish, amphibians, small reptiles, aquatic birds and mammals. Larger males can also grab larger prey - wild pigs, anacondas. Cases of cannibalism are known, i.e. eating individuals of their own species. Young caimans feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates.

In general, the diet of crocodile caimans is quite diverse, and in different parts of the range there is a significant food selectivity of these crocodiles.

Vocalization

reproduction

Male and female crocodile caiman become sexually mature at the age of 4 to 7 years with a body size of 1.4 m and 1.2 m, respectively. Growth rates The mating season lasts from May to August. After mating, the female builds a nest of rotting plants in dense vegetation, where she lays from 15 to 40 eggs covered with a hard calcined shell. Sometimes several females lay eggs in one nest. The incubation period lasts from 65 to 100 days, with an average of 90 days, depending on local conditions. All this time, the female is near the nest, driving away potential enemies from it. The hatched cubs stay close to the female for some time.

Lifespan

There is no exact information about the life span of crocodile caimans, but presumably - 30-40 years.

Since crocodile caimans are relatively small alligators, they are quite regularly brought up in private collections at a young age. Unfortunately, very often the owners of such collections try to get rid of the caimans as soon as they grow up, sometimes even throwing them into the nearest water bodies, dooming them to certain death. The Moscow Zoo has repeatedly been forced to accept such grown caimans in order to save their lives and provide decent living conditions. Now in the Exotarium pavilion, visitors to our zoo can see one of these forced migrants at the exposition.

Spectacled caimans are a genus of caimans that combines 2 species and 4 subspecies. These are rare crocodiles whose numbers are declining. They live in South and Central Africa.

All species and subspecies of spectacled caimans are in the Red Book. Today there is experience in breeding these caimans on farms in captivity.

Features of the appearance of spectacled caimans

Spectacled caimans differ from alligators in that they do not have a bony septum in the opening of the external nostrils, in addition, the maxillary and prefrontal bones do not touch, there is a bone shell on the belly, and 8 large scutes on the back of the head.

Spectacled caimans can be distinguished from other caimans by the presence of a transverse ridge on the muzzle, between the eyes. The ossification of the upper eyelid is weak, there are 5 teeth in the premaxilla, the orbit is small. The body color of spectacled caimans is dark olive.

Crocodile caimans

One of the types of spectacled caimans are crocodile caimans, characteristic feature which is a relatively long muzzle, tapering in front.

The body length of crocodile caimans is approximately 2.4-2.6 meters.

In adult crocodile caimans, there are through holes in the jaws, into which large first and fourth teeth are placed. Sometimes not pits are formed in the upper jaw, but cuts into which the fourth teeth of the lower jaw are placed, because of this, the skull takes on a shape similar to that of a crocodile, hence the name of the species.

These caimans live in America: Mexico, Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. They can live in brackish water, so they were able to settle from the continent to some of the nearby islands: Gorgonilla, Gorgon and Trinidad. Sometimes they can even be found in the sea near the coast.

Crocodile caimans prefer calm waters, mostly living in small rivers and swamps. They settle thanks to floating islands of water hyacinths and other aquatic plants, which can sometimes be more than 900 square meters in size. These floating islands float down rivers. They are home to young caimans that travel long distances and end up in the open sea.

The diet of young crocodile caimans consists mainly of aquatic insects, and adults attack any prey they can handle: fish, freshwater crabs, snails.

Breeding in these caimans occurs throughout the year, but the peak is in January-March.

Females lay eggs in nests built from rotting plants near water. A clutch of crocodile caiman can contain from 15 to 30 eggs. Adult males live on certain territories, when the boundaries are violated, fights occur between males. Today, the numbers of these caimans have been drastically reduced due to overhunting these animals for their highly valued skin.

Broad-faced caimans

The second type of spectacled caimans are broad-faced caimans. They differ from the first species in a wider muzzle. The width of the muzzle near the eye sockets exceeds its length. These caimans do not have through holes for teeth in the upper jaw.

Broad-faced caimans live in South America: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. Throughout the habitat, a decrease in the number of these caimans is noted.

Broad-faced caimans live in shallow rivers, lagoons and swamps with dense vegetation. Often settle in salty or brackish waters. Also found in mangroves.

In summer, broad-faced caimans morning time basking in the sun. In autumn and spring, they are additionally heated in the evenings. In winter, they appear only on sunny warm days. Due to behavioral thermal insulation, the temperature of broad-faced caimans is kept at 31-32 degrees Celsius. Small individuals bask in the sun, climbing trees.

The diet of broad-faced caimans consists of aquatic insects, crustaceans, molluscs, and small vertebrates.

Spectacled caimans mature at 1.5-2 years. In Uruguay they nest in January, in Brazil from August to January, and in Argentina from January to March. The nest of dry vegetation looks like a mound. Females nest on floating islands or near water. The diameter of the nest can exceed 1.5 meters. The clutch contains from 20 to 60 eggs, but in Paraguay the clutches are more numerous - about 60-90 eggs. The eggs are covered with a very strong bumpy shell and have the shape of an ellipse, they weigh about 84 grams. The incubation period lasts approximately 90 days at a temperature of 30-32 degrees.

During the incubation of eggs, the female broad-faced caiman becomes extremely aggressive, while she spends most of her time near the nest and leaves it only when she hunts. When the little caimans hatch, they give sound signals, and the female digs out the nest, and then carries the babies in her mouth to the water. Young individuals keep in the first year of their life close to the nesting site.

The population of broad-faced caimans is threatened by habitat destruction and commercial exploitation. In Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, hunting for caimans is prohibited, and it is also not allowed to export these reptiles. In Bolivia, there are restrictions on the capture of broad-faced caimans.

In Paraguay, they live in a protected reserve. Argentina and Brazil have National parks where broad-faced caimans found shelter.

In order to increase protective measures, it is planned to organize serious control over the capture and all other types of exploitation of caimans, create a network of specialized protected areas and monitor population growth. Like many caimans, broad-faced caimans can breed in captivity, and in the zoos of Rio de Janeiro and Japan, these reptiles regularly give birth.

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