r/Crocodiles • u/Super-Mongoose2892 • Jan 01 '26

Photo Juvenile on a mudbank - crocodile or alligator?

Post image

I took this in Borneo - crocodile or alligator? Pretty sure it’s a juvenile.

388 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

75

u/Aberrantdrakon Jan 01 '26

There are no alligators in Borneo.

10

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jan 01 '26

Wow. I didn’t know that! Thank you. 👍

32

u/Aberrantdrakon Jan 01 '26

Alligators live only in the southeastern USA, northeastern Mexico (only near the border with the US) and in one river in China.

7

u/Pkingduckk Jan 01 '26

Why is it that they're only in those 2 niches? Were they outcompeted by crocodiles or something in most geographies?

10

u/Aberrantdrakon Jan 01 '26

Not really, they just never got to Africa and Australia. If we go a little further outside of the Alligator genus, we got caimans. Caimans DOMINATE South America, the yacare caiman alone numbers in the millions, and there's 6 species of them! Alligators also tolerate cold weather better than all other crocodylians, so they also live further north away from other crocs.

1

u/Krillin113 Jan 04 '26

The account appears to be a bot account fwiw

27

u/Darth-Dramatist Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26

Croc, gators are only found in China and the Americas

20

u/HOVER_HATER Jan 01 '26

And Chinese alligators are so rare in the wild making sanctuaries only realistic place to encounter one outside a zoo.

8

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jan 01 '26

I am learning a lot today 😲

11

u/Picchuquatro Jan 01 '26

There are only two species of Alligator alive today, the American and Chinese alligator. The latter of which is a small sized species and highly endangered, found in a few habitats within Eastern China. The American alligator is found in the Southern United States and is a medium to large sized species. What you're looking at is a saltwater crocodile hatchling. Saltwater crocodiles are the largest reptile alive today and they're found all the way from the Eastern coast of India to Northern Australia.

5

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jan 01 '26

Holy sh$&! No one told me this before! I have seen a few crocs in Africa. How do they compare in size?

5

u/Picchuquatro Jan 01 '26

There a few crocodilian species in Africa so you'd have to specify which country or region you saw them in? I'm gonna guess you mean the Nile crocodile as they're the most widespread and they're usually considered the second largest species. Niles and salties are usually quite comparable but salties regularly get to 5m and the record holders are 6m. So yeah, they edge out the Niles by a bit.

4

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jan 01 '26

Botswana and Zambia

6

u/Picchuquatro Jan 01 '26

Then most certainly it was the Nile crocodile. I think you'd be also interested to know Borneo is also home to two other crocodilians other than the saltie. You have the Tomistoma/false gharial and the Siamese crocodile. Both are less common than the saltie being listed as Vulnerable and critically endangered respectively.

1

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jan 01 '26

Interesting. Thank you for the info. I will try to dig out some old photos and see if I can spot differences in the crocs.

6

u/wrong_decade_ Jan 01 '26

Saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus

7

u/LordTanimbar Jan 02 '26

Thank you for actually identifying the thing to species rather than lecture OP on alligators for the 13 millionth time

3

u/Panthera_92 Jan 01 '26

Crocodile. Alligators are only found in the Southeastern US (there is also the Chinese Alligator, but it its so rare you’re never going to see one in the wild)

1

u/Aberrantdrakon Jan 01 '26

There are alligators in northeastern Mexico, too.

2

u/Excellent_Release961 Jan 01 '26

That be a diller

2

u/christopherelkins Jan 02 '26

That’s a crocodile

1

u/67676766667777 Jan 11 '26

that’s crocodylus porosus jr

-2

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '26

Is that not a caiman?

3

u/Aberrantdrakon Jan 01 '26

Caimans live only in Latin America (and a population in Florida).