(upbeat bluegrass music) - Today, we're gonna
show you the difference between crocodiles and alligators.
The first thing that you guys are gonna notice
with crocodile is their teeth.
You can notice that the bottom jaw, their teeth,
actually intertwine with their top jaw.
Whereas you can see that the bottom jaws of an alligator,
their teeth, actually go right into the top jaws.
So it's not like a crocodile,
where the crocodile teeth actually will intertwine.
You can see these teeth are much more round
and much more stumpy, but when he closes his mouth,
the teeth actually go right into his top jaw.
Can't come to Florida without going to our good friends
over at Gator Land.
Up, good job, buddy. (intense bongo music)
And the crocodile's can really use those teeth for feeding.
Crocodiles are definitely more predaceous than alligators.
There's no doubt about that, and look at these things feed,
holy moly.
You just throw some food in there, and they are after it,
quick, agile, unbelievable predators,
and you may notice that the crocodile's teeth
are more pointed.
They're definitely sharper,
whereas the alligator's teeth are much bigger
and more rounded,
and I'm at Primitive Predators.
I can't think of a better place
to show off amazing crocodiles.
As a matter fact, I'm gonna put a link in the description
to all of their stuff.
Go show them some love,
because they have some amazing content.
The next thing you're gonna notice is
that crocodiles have a more triangular head.
Their nose comes to, kind of, a triangle,
and almost all crocodiles have that similar feature,
some with longer noses and so with shorter noses,
but they're all triangular shape.
Whereas alligators, as you can see, have a much more round,
whoa, have a much more round nose, just like that,
not the pointy nose of a crocodile.
What are you doing you cheeky monkey, over here?
Ooh, yes.
Close up call, close up, close up.
Okay, you're good.
And the reason for that is that crocodiles
are definitely more carnivores.
They're more predaceous, whereas alligators,
they're more scavenging type.
They will predate.
Don't get me wrong, but they are definitely more scavenging.
So they're using that round jaw to, kind of,
help them pick up stuff.
Sometimes they'll even eat fruits, believe it or not.
Whereas crocodilians, that's not on the diet.
It's all carnivore.
Alligators have sensors around their mouth
that are called ISO's where they can sense the
actual water change.
So watch this.
See how the alligator knows?
As soon as that meat hits the water,
the pressure changes, and they snap at it,
but crocodiles actually have ISO's all over their body.
So they're sensing not only what's in front of their face,
but they're sensing things all over the body.
Again, any pressure change in the water at all,
if this orinoco right now is out in the deep of this water
and anything touched that water at any level,
it's gonna send little waves,
and their entire body is gonna pick up it
with those little sensors,
and that's why they're such amazing predators.
Of course, the late great Steve Irwin actually said
that alligators are basically frogs with teeth,
because he'd worked with crocodiles so much,
and the difference between alligators
and crocodiles is so incredible
when it comes to their attitude.
Crocodile's definitely are more athletic.
Now, the thing that's interesting is
that crocodile's have longer legs
than alligators giving them the ability to run much faster
and in some cases like Cuban crocodiles,
jump up to five foot.
Cuban Crocodiles literally gallop,
which is amazing, and can really run at fast speeds,
whereas alligators are very slow and methodical,
and they have shorter legs.
Crocodiles actually have longer legs than alligators,
meaning that they can actually gallop and move super fast,
and again, the athleticism of crocodiles,
you can get an idea with this Cuban crocodile right here.
Danny's puckering up.
- Queso.
(Brian laughs)
- So we're in with Morton,
a crocodile that has got a ton of energy.
You ready for this, Danny?
- [Brian] I think so.
First thing, we gotta find him.
That's the hard one.
- [Danny] Morton!
Come on, bud.
Let's go.
Yeah, oh.
- [Brian] Oh, he's going back to the water, yeah.
- [Danny] All right, give it to him, nice.
Oh, is that good?
- [Brian] Look at that buddy.
- I think he's still hungry.
- Crocodiles hit so much harder.
They're generally much sneakier,
because you gotta think of the prey they go after it.
The prey, it's a very ambush,
whereas alligators are designed to eat crabs and turtles
and crushing stuff.
So they, kind of, just lope around and scan the bottom
and find it and scoop it in their mouth and crush it
and swallow it down.
So they're not as much of an ambush predator
as a crocadile is.
Crocodiles hit hard and come out strong,
and also, alligators have just a jovial personality.
In captivity, they're very easily manageable,
as far as, like a safety aspect of working with them
and just going in there and and having fun.
Crocodiles, especially saltwater crocodiles
and Cuban crocs, much like working with a black mamba.
You gotta understand what you're dealing with
and not be fearful, but extremely respectful
and conscious of everything you do in that enclosure.
(groovy blues music)
- This is a golden saltwater crocodile
or what they call a porosus.
Now, the reason they call 'em saltwater crocodiles is
that they can actually live in brackish water
and even sometimes swim in salt water like the ocean,
and of course, crocodilians have a membrane
that can actually help them filter out salt,
basically almost like the iguanids do,
the same type of thing, but of course,
alligators don't have nearly the advanced part,
and they can only be in freshwater mainly,
and they don't have the ability,
but now here with this one, this is a saltwater crocodile.
These guys can be found all over, huh?
- Yes, so the biggest question I get
about saltwater crocodiles here is, well,
how do you send 'em up with saltwater?
The truth of it is is they're called Australian saltwater
crocodiles because they're found, quite commonly,
in saltwater.
They'll travel for miles to find islands
that they'll eat sea turtle eggs,
but they can handle long periods in saltwater,
very, very long periods, much like the American crocodile.
If you talk to the locals in Florida,
they call American crocodiles saltwater crocs,
because they find 'em a lot in saltwater.
So yes, they can withstand long periods of salt water,
but you do predominantly find these animals in fresh water.
- And it's just a difference of tolerance, right?
Alligators don't tolerate the salt water as much
as most crocodile,
and that's why the distribution is so wide for crocodiles
and so narrow for alligators.
(intense bongo music) Fun fact for you guys,
bone crusher is actually an American crocodile,
and American crocodiles and American alligators.
It's the only place where there's actually crocodile
and alligators that are in the exact same area.
So let's go ahead and see what--
- [Danny] He's gonna come see us, I think, first.
- [Brian] Yeah, come on, buddy.
(kids talking in the background)
And the thing that's interesting there
that American crocodiles are actually from south Florida is
that these guys are often known as salt water crocodiles
down here because they can live in brackish water,
and again, just like all crocodilians,
they have that membrane that they can absorb salt
and actually expel it, and these guys will have more
of that ability than alligators.
Again, the only place in the entire world that crocodiles
and alligators coexist.
Let's talk about some of the similarities
between alligators and crocodiles.
Crocodiles, like these Nile crocodiles here,
they actually have, what they call, a nictating membrane,
which is basically almost like goggles, right?
Their eyes close this way, but when their eyes are open,
another lid can close this way that is see-through
so they don't get water in other things in their eyes
so that they can see underwater.
Both alligators and crocodiles have,
what they call, osteoderms, which is basically bony skin.
You can see the ridges all along their back,
and that's for protection from predators.
Have you ever seen how alligator's eyes
and crocodile's eyes actually glow
at night if you shine 'em?
It's called Tapetum Lucidum,
which is actually like a reflective layer
in the back of their eyes.
You may even see that with your dogs at some point,
but with alligators and crocodiles,
it's much more pronounced,
and when you go out at night
and you shine the water with a light,
you see all these little glowy eyes,
which is an absolutely amazing thing to see.
Both alligators and crocodiles are apex predators.
Crocodiles and alligators have been around
for a couple hundred million years.
These guys are true prehistoric animals,
and they haven't changed much over that time.
They've gotten a little bit smaller,
but they still are basically almost the same type of thing,
and one of the reasons they've been able to survive
for so many millions of years is the way
that they're actually made, right?
Whereas food sources would become very scarce
during times of drought, or maybe some kind of cataclysm
that actually hit the earth.
These guys could go up to a year without food
because they're cold blooded.
Oftentimes, they'll lay there in the sun
and then basically use very, very little calories
so they can go long distance of time.
So, whereas other animals actually would go extinct
because they needed more food.
The crocodilians were able to survive all those hundreds
of millions of years, and of course,
the thing that's interesting
about crocodilians is the maternal instinct.
Tell me a little bit about how it works with crocodilians
- What's incredible about these reptiles is
they're such great parents.
Over there at the other facility, we have a pair of Niles
that laid their eggs raise their own young together.
These coldblooded killers can be such amazing parents.
- They'll actually protect their nest.
Once the babies hatch, they'll oftentimes take the babies
in their mouth, bring 'em to the water,
and we saw at your other pond where there was literally
adult Nile crocodiles and babies smaller than this
just swimming around.
- [Man In Orange Shirt] Absolutely, thousands of pounds
of pressure in that mouth, and an adult, yet,
they can take an egg and just gently crack it just enough
for the baby to pop out of the egg and swim away.
- Maternal instinct, amazing with both crocodiles
and alligators.
- Alligators in Florida is a lot easier.
Far as the care of an alligator is much easier
than a crocodile, especially if you're not in Florida.
I've had it before when I grew up in Pennsylvania.
If the heat goes out, alligators are like, well, you know,
this is just a cold day, but crocodiles,
it's a death sentence.
- So you can certainly see the difference
between the alligator here and a crocodile there.
There's no better way to see.
See those really pointy long teeth?
The alligators have much shorter teeth, that round snout.
Absolutely, this is the perfect depiction
of the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.
Of course, alligators are in the Southeast part
of the United States,
but crocodiles can be all over the world, right?
- They really are almost every single continent.
- Except for Antarctica and Europe.
Check this out, guys.
Piece of meat
(meat splashes) and alligators.
We sure found out a lot about crocodiles
and alligators today.
Speaking of out.
Hope you guys enjoyed today's video.
If you did, there's a playlist
that you can watch all kinds of videos.
You can also hit that subscription button.
It would mean a lot to me.
Also, hit that like button while you're down there.
Have a wonderful day, reptile army, remember.
(slow-mo yelling)