THE CAIMAN: NEITHER CROC NOR GATOR

A caiman is first a reptile, and second a crocodilian, which can reach up to six meters (20 feet) long and prefers the warm, still waters of oxbow lakes and lower rivers. They are very good swimmers, with long, slender bodies and powerful tails that drive them through the water. They can crush anything with their powerful jaws and, though their main food source is fish, they will eat anything they can get their jaws on, including capybara, juvenile otters, birds, insects, and mollusks.

There are four species of caiman in Peru: the dwarf (one to five meters), the smooth-fronted (two meters), the spectacled (five meters), and the black (up to six meters). This last has black marks, a spiky tail, and a short snout and is second in size in the Upper Amazon to the eight-meter-long anaconda snake. After being hunted relentlessly for their skins in the first half of the 20th century, the Amazon’s caiman population is a fraction of what it was in 1900.

Caimans mate in October and lay 20–60 eggs in January. The black caiman nest is a compound of tree leaves 1.5 meters in diameter with eggs arranged in two layers that are separated and apparently warmed by rotting leaves.

Perhaps caimans are such fierce predators because they have such a hard time growing up. The eggs are eaten by snakes, fish, and hawks. After hatching, baby caimans hide in the water grass, coming out only at night, to avoid being eaten by a turtle, otter, or wading bird. Only 5 percent of caimans survive the ordeal.

Caimans can be easily spotted by their eyes’ red reflection in a flashlight beam, a common night activity at many jungle lodges. With a fast jab into the water with their hands, most Amazon guides are capable of pulling a juvenile caiman up to a half meter out of the water for inspection. Though interesting, this practice no doubt makes life a bit harder for the baby caiman and should be discouraged.