The Crocodile

 

 

The crocodile is the oldest living predator in existence. It has survived for millions of years, unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs and is still considered to be one of the most lethal killers in nature. The fact that it has barely evolved at all in millions of years is proof that it's design is so perfect and so efficient that it cannot be improved upon. Crocodiles are essentially a trap animal, like most spiders. They lay in wait for their prey, meaning that they need expend no more energy than is necessary. It is probably this strategy that allowed them to survive the extinction events that wiped out the dinosaurs, and to survive the cold of the ice age too.

 

In their 200 million years, the only way in which crocodiles have changed is their size. Some members of the crocodile family have adapted to be smaller than others, the alligator included. This is a common trend. Millions of years ago there would have been many other larger species of crocodile. The largest recorded modern crocodile was approximately 25 feet in length, but fossil records show that they were once much larger. Crocodiles and Alligators are found across the globe, wherever a suitable habitat can be found.