Cuvier's dwarf caiman

Brow smooth forehead Cayman ( Paleosuchus palpebrosus )

The Brow smooth forehead Cayman ( Paleosuchus palpebrosus ) is a representative of the family of alligators.

Features

The Brow smooth forehead Cayman reaches a maximum body length of about 1.50 meters in males and about 1.20 meters in females. He is so like the only other representatives of the smooth forehead caimans ( genus Paleosuchus ), the wedge - head smooth forehead Cayman ( Paleosuchus trigonatus ), a very small crocodile. The muzzle is in contrast to his relatives very short, and the animals have a high, almost dog -like skull. Other features of the smooth forehead caimans are the brown eyes and the absence of a bony ridge between the eyes, hence the name of the group. Overall, the body and the tail are strongly ossified.

Dissemination

The Brow smooth front caiman lives in the dense rain forests of the Amazon and Orinoco and the Rio São Francisco, the Paraná and the Paraguay River. Its habitat is flooded forest areas in the region of larger lakes and their undergrowth rich side. They also live in the gallery forest of the rivers on the edge of the rain forest, but do not penetrate into the Llanos and the Pantanal.

Way of life

Brow smooth front caiman build mounds of earth and plant material, which they hide in the undergrowth. About their breeding behavior is not much more is known.

The juveniles and adults probably feed in the wild mainly of insects and fish and other small vertebrates.