The yacare caiman (''Caiman yacare''), also known commonly as the jacare caiman, Spanish yacaré, Paraguayan caiman, piranha caiman, red caiman, southern spectacled caiman, ''jacaré'' in Portuguese, and îakaré in Old Tupi, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

caiman A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America f ...

, a

crocodilia Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest livi ...

n in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Alligatoridae The family Alligatoridae of crocodylians includes alligators, caimans and their extinct relatives. Phylogeny The superfamily Alligatoroidea includes all crocodilians (fossil and extant) that are more closely related to the American alligator ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

. Brown in color and covered with dark blotches, males grow to a total length (including tail) of and weigh around ; while females grow to long and about . Typical habitats of this caiman include lakes, rivers, and wetlands. Its diet primarily consists of aquatic animals, such as snails, and occasionally land vertebrates. Mating occurs in the rainy season and eggs hatch in March, with young fending for themselves as soon as they hatch. The yacare caiman was hunted heavily for its skin to use for leather in the 1980s, which caused its population to decrease significantly. However, trading restrictions placed since have caused its population to increase. Its population in the

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and ...

is about 10 million, and it is listed as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...

Taxonomy

François Marie Daudin François Marie Daudin (; 29 August 1776 in Paris – 30 November 1803 in Paris) was a French zoologist. With legs paralyzed by childhood disease, he studied physics and natural history, but ended up being devoted to the latter. Daudin wrote ' ( ...

originally described the yacare caiman in 1802 as ''Crocodilus yacare''. Its specific name, ''yacare'', comes from the word ''jacaré'', which means "alligator" in Old Tupi and then transliterated to Portuguese. As of 2010, the exact relationship between the yacare caiman and related species is unclear and complicated. There have been attempts to analyze this relationship, but these have not produced definite conclusions. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the spectacled caiman (''Caiman crocodilus''), which would make its scientific name ''Caiman crocodilus yacare''. These two species are the same morphologically, but are considered separate species due to their geographical differences.

Description

''C. yacare'' is a medium-sized caiman, brown in color. Male specimens grow to in total length (including tail) and up to in weight. Females are much smaller, with an adult total length of and weight of . The average

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...

(SVL) of hatchlings is for females and for males. ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

'' has described young individuals as "look(ing) like nothing more than tiny, windblown seeds floating amid the rushes at the edge of a lagoon in Brazil's remote interior." Based on a study of the growth of multiple specimens in the

from 1987 to 2013, both sexes are about SVL at age five. By age 15, they have mostly finished growth, with females being about SVL and males over SVL. The study also showed that individuals have significant variation in their growth rates. Dark marks are distributed across the body; most noticeably, its lower jaw is covered with three to five blotches. It has a smooth snout, which is medium in length and broad. It has lumps on its eyelids and a curved ridge between its eyes. It has

osteoderm Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct amp ...

s on its scales, a feature also present in the spectacled caiman. It has an average of 74 teeth, with 5 pre-maxillary, 14–15 maxillary, and 17–21 mandibular. Some of the teeth on its lower jaw can poke through holes in its upper jaw. This feature makes its teeth more prominent and has been compared to

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, f ...

s, which has established the common name "piranha caiman". File:Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare) juvenile.JPG, A juvenile, about one month old, in the

, Brazil File:Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare) 2.jpg, An up-close view of the head and frontal body, with its dark blotches visible File:Taxidermy specimen of an Wetland alligator (Caiman yacare).jpg, Taxidermied specimen File:Wetland alligator heart.jpg, Heart displayed at the Museum of Veterinary Anatomy FMVZ USP

Ecology

The yacare caiman is ecologically similar to the spectacled caiman. It lives in semi-aquatic habitats, including lakes, rivers, and wetlands, but is able to adapt to a variety of habitats. Individuals sometimes move to different locations in groups if their habitat is disturbed. The species' diet consists of aquatic animals, such as snails and fish, and occasionally snakes. It has also been known to eat

capybara The capybaraAlso called capivara (in Brazil), capiguara (in Bolivia), chigüire, chigüiro, or fercho (in Colombia and Venezuela), carpincho (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and ronsoco (in Peru). or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydro ...

s. When hunting for snails, this caiman looks within vegetation floating in water and uses its jaws to break the shells of the snails. In July 1986, the stomach of a specimen in Bolivia was observed to be full of mud, along with small parts of eggshells that likely belonged to a caiman. In general, crocodilians can eat the eggshells of their own young subsequent to the young hatching. Breeding usually occurs in December–February, in the middle of the rainy season. Nests are constructed by the females, built in a mound shape using mud and rotting vegetation. The species can lay as many as 44 eggs, but it most commonly lays 22–35, with the exact number often depending on the habitat type. It often exhibits multiple paternity, more so than several other crocodilian species. Females usually protect nests during incubation, but do so less when the human hunting pressure is high, ultimately causing a lower hatching success rate. Eggs hatch in March. Young exhibit precociality, receiving very little help from their parents and having to care for themselves. They hide in grasses in the daytime, as

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...

s and

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

s can eat young caimans. Females become sexually mature at age 10–15. Similar species of the yacare caiman live to about age 50, which has been used as an estimate for this caiman's lifespan, but its exact lifespan is unknown. File:Wood stork (Mycteria americana) and Yacare caiman.jpg, Storks, such as this

wood stork The wood stork (''Mycteria americana'') is a large American wading bird in the family Ciconiidae (storks), the only member of the family to breed in North America. It was formerly called the "wood ibis", though it is not an ibis. It is found ...

(right), can prey on juveniles (left) File:Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare).JPG, An adult resting in the sun

Distribution and conservation

The range of the yacare caiman includes Argentina (north), Bolivia, Brazil (south), and Paraguay. It is one of three species of genus ''Caiman'' in South America, the others being the

broad-snouted caiman The broad-snouted caiman (''Caiman latirostris'') is a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae found in eastern and central South America, including southeastern Brazil, northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. It is found mostly in ...

(''C. latirostris'') and the spectacled caiman (''C. crocodilus''), with more easterly and northerly ranges, respectively. The yacare caiman is one of the most common species on its continent. In the 1980s, the species was "heading for oblivion" due to frequently being hunted for its skin; hunters often went to water holes containing many yacare caimans and shot large numbers of them. They utilized the skin for leather and left the other parts of the carcasses at the water holes. Although the species is covered with bony

s, which had previously made it uncommon to be hunted for leather, it has some less bony spots which can be used for leather. This practice caused the caiman's population to drop by the millions. In 1992, a ban was issued in Brazil that prohibited the trading of crocodilian skins. This resulted in a significant increase in its population, with about 10 million specimens living in the Pantanal alone as of 2013. Current threats of the yacare caiman include deforestation, tourism, construction of dams and seaports, and illegal hunting. The species reproduces quickly, which makes it less susceptible to hunting pressure. The

designated the yacare caiman a species of least concern in 1996. It is listed as threatened by the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

as of June 5, 2000, after having been listed as endangered since June 2, 1970. As of 2010, it is listed as an

Appendix II CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of intern ...

species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

References

External links