Dwarf Crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis) Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

Carnivore

• Opportunistic predator (from Riley and Huchzermeyer 2000)
  • Diet varied (Pauwels et al. 2007)
  • Includes a variety of invertebrates and small vertebrates
• Consume aquatic and terrestrial items (Pauwels et al. 2007; Riley and Huchzermeyer 2000; Waitkuwait 1989)
  • Invertebrates are the primary food source, most studies (Eaton 2010a)
    • Millipedes and beetle larvae commonly consumed in southwestern Gabon (Pauwels et al. 2007)
  • Reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals also taken (Pauwels et al. 2007; Riley and Huchzermeyer 2000; Waitkuwait)
  • Fish commonly consumed (Eaton 2010a)
• Plant debris often found in stomach contents (Riley and Huchzermeyer 2000)
• Rocks (from Pauwels et al. 2007)
  • Gastroliths found in stomach content samples
  • Function
    • Not likely to aid in buoyancy
      • Mass suggests an alternative function
    • Possibly assist with food processing
    • May aid against parasites

Animal prey (from Luiselli et al. 1999; Pauwels et al. 2007; Riley and Huchzermeyer 2000; Waitkuwait 1989)

• Fish
• Other vertebrates
  • Terrestrial amphibians and reptiles
  • Small mammals
  • Birds
• Snails
• Annelid worms
• Arthropods
  • Millipedes
  • Spiders and scorpions
  • Crabs and shrimp
  • Beetles
  • Cockroaches
  • Katydids
  • Grasshoppers
  • Moths and caterpillars
• Aquatic insect larvae and tadpoles eaten by hatchlings

Dwarf Crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis). Image credit: © Mitchell Eaton at IUCN Crocodile Special Interest Group. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission from the artist.