Nile Crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus & C. suchus) Fact Sheet: Distribution & Habitat

Historic distribution

• Formerly across Africa (from Pooley & Gans 1976; Trutnau & Sommerlad 2006)
• Extending to Israel and  along the southern Mediterranean coast as far west and north as Tunisia and Syriain, recent historical times
• Fossil and modern distribution records suggests some lineages dispersed across marine barriers (from Brochu 2001; Dessauer et al 2002)
• Distribution of the genus Crocodylus world-wide can't be explained by continental drift, land bridges, sea levels, or any other geological phenomena
• Several physiological mechanisms of crocodiles probably helped them to colonize new lands via marine waters
• Recent regional extinctions
• 1810-1820, extirpated from Comoros Island, off Africa's East Coast
• Eliminated from Israel in the early 1900s
• Re-established population in Egypt following theAswan dam project in the 1970s

Modern distribution

• Widespread throughout Africa (from Hekkala et al 2009)
• South of the Sahara desert
• In eastern Africa, up to Lake Nassar in Egypt
• Absent from the southern tip of Africa
• Western Madagascar (Hekkala et al 2009)
• Present in numerous countries
• Occupies parts of 47 African countries (Hekkala et al 2009)
• Can be locally rare, with populations fragmented due to human land use and a drying climate (Ross 1998)

Geographical subregions

• 7 distinctive populations (from Hekkala et al 2009)
• 4 major drainages of Eastern Africa
• Kenya's Lake Turkana
• Ruaha River in Tanzania
• Zambezi River in Zimbabwe
• Limpopo River in South Africa
• Sahara/West Africa population
• 2 groups in Madagascar
• Populations probably founded by individuals who crossed 250 miles of marine waters from Africa (Brochu 2001; Dessauer et al 2002; Grenard 1991)

Freshwater inhabitant

• Lakes, rivers, and streams
• Also found in brackish coastal swamps
• More salt-tolerant than previously believed (Brochu 2001)
• Burrows during the hot and dry seasons in Somalia and Tanzania (Trutnau & Sommerlad 2006)
• Juveniles known to occupy burrows for protection from adults
• Inhabits caves, western Madagascar

Nile Crocodile distribution.

Adapted from www-d.-maps.com according to IUCN fact sheet. Click here for detailed distribution information (IUCN).

Brochu (2001)
Dessauer et al (2002)
Grenard (1991)
Hekkala et al (2009)
Pooley & Gans (1976)
Ross (1998)
Trutnau & Sommerlad (2006)