| Common names: Slender-snouted crocodile, African gavial
Range: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Dem. Rep. Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia |
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CITES: Appendix I
CSG Action Plan:
Availability of Survey Data – Extremely Poor
Need for Wild Population Recovery – High
Potential for Sustainable Management – Moderate
1996 IUCN Red List: DD Data Deficient, possibly EN
Endangered or VU Vulnerable based on suspected
declines.
Principal threats: Habitat destruction, illegal hunting.
Ecology and natural history
Ecology and natural history
This narrow-snouted, medium-sized species reaches a
maximum size of up to 4m (Brazaitis 1973). It is distributed
widely throughout western and central Africa, where it
apparently prefers riverine habitats in areas with dense
vegetation (Waitkuwait 1989).
What little is known about C. cataphractus in the wild has been summarized by Waitkuwait (1989). Mound nests composed of organic matter are constructed along riverbanks at the beginning of the wet season. The nesting season broadly overlaps that of the sympatric dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis), but is more concentrated in time, and there appear to be differences in types of nesting habitat used. Females lay an average of approximately 16 eggs, and egg size is very large relative to female size.
Conservation and status
As with the largely sympatric dwarf crocodile, very few survey data are available for this species. Information from the work of Waitkuwait (1989) in Côte d’Ivoire, and the surveys of Behra (1987) in Gabon, Congo and the Central African Republic, suggested that in these four countries populations of C. cataphractus were somewhat depleted but not imminently threatened at that time. The largest remaining known population appears to be in the Ogoue River in Gabon. Incomplete information for three additional countries suggests that this species is somewhat depleted in Liberia, and severely depleted in Chad and Angola. Population decline in the past has been attributed to increased hide hunting associated with the decline of Crocodylus niloticus populations. Subsistence hunting and habitat destruction have also contributed to population decline (Pooley 1982).
Little new information has come to light on this species
since the 1992 Action Plan was published. Surveys
conducted in The Gambia, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau
did not find any C. cataphractus and they may be extirpated
there (Jones 1991). Dore (1991) reported that the status of
C. cataphractus was “precarious ... if it still exists” in
Nigeria. Reports from Togo and Congo both suggest
C. cataphractus is very rare but still subject to harvest
for skins (Behra 1993b, 1994b). Simbotwe (1993) suggests
that Zambia was probably the southern range limit for the
species and that changing habitat conditions in the Luapula
river, Lake Mweru and Lake Tanganyika may mean
C. cataphractus is now extinct in Zambia. Disruption of
habitat by removing riverside vegetation and direct harvest
for meat and skins are the major threats.
In most countries the management of C. cataphractus is based on the legal protection of wild populations. Limited sustainable utilization is beginning in some nations, based solely on the direct cropping of wild animals. Congo maintained an CITES export quota for the species of 200 per year in 1990–1992, but this has now lapsed and a few skins were exported. The regulated hunting of this species is permitted in Chad, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cameroon, and Dem. Rep. Congo, but does not appear to be part of specific management plans. No ranching or farming of the species has been attempted.
This species is one of the few crocodilians where the
available information, although sparse, suggests a seriously
deteriorating status. However, there are vast areas of
potential habitat through the drainages of the Congo
(Dem. Rep. Congo), Niger (Nigeria), Ogoue (Gabon) and
numerous other large rivers in the region. Logistic
difficulties and political instability make surveys in this
region problematic. There is insufficient information to
assess the status of this species and rectifying this situation
is an urgent priority.
Priority projects
High priority
Surveys of population status throughout West and central Africa: Very little is known about the status of this species in the wild. Surveys need to be undertaken virtually throughout the species range. Surveys should be done on a country-by-country basis as part of an overall program for establishing conservation and management programs.
Moderate priority
Studies on ecology and population dynamics: Very little is known about the ecology of this species. Ecologically it appears to be somewhat similar to the tomistoma (Tomistoma schlegelii), another virtually unknown crocodilian. Population studies need to be undertaken at a number of sites, again as part of an overall plan for developing conservation and management plans for the species in the wild.
Captive slender-snouted crocodile, Crocodylus
cataphractus, a native of west and central
Africa, Gator Jungle, Florida, USA. Photo by
R. S. Funk.