Crocodile is a reptile, which live in the water and land. It has big size, with tail longer than its body. When it comes out of the egg, it is about one foot long. It grows very fast during first 5 years if it gets abundant food and suitable living condition.

Crocodile is ranked in the Crocodilians, which believe to have backbone and can survive the longest. It is a cold-blooded animal and can adapt its body temperature with surrounding environment.
The general characteristics of crocodile are long body, big head with long and flat structure that is developed to stay afloat in water. It has bulking eye socket, and tilted nose tip.










Crocodile and Gharial that can be found in Thailand

1. Freshwater or Siamese Crocodile , (Crocodilelus siamensis)
80% of crocodiles in Thailand are Siamese Crocodile.

Native Place: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Kalimantan, Java and Sumatra.
Characteristics: Medium to big size, which is about 3-4 meters long. It has scale at occiput.
Biology: - Mature at 10-12 years old.
  - Lay 20-48 eggs per time.
  - Hatch for 68-85 days, the average is 80 days.
  - Rather fierce.
  - Prefer to live and look for food alone.
2. Saltwater Crocodile, (Crocodylus porosus)
20% of crocodiles in Thailand are Saltwater Crocodile.
Native Place: Sri Lanka, East India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, The Philippines and Australia.
Characteristics: Big size, the largest one reported was 9 meters long. It does not have scale at occiput.
Biology: - Maturity for male is 16 years old and 3.2 meters long while for female is 10 years old and 2.2 meters long.
  - Lay eggs during rainy season, about 25-90 eggs per time, the average is 50 eggs.
3. False Gharial or Malayan Gharial, (Tomistoma schlegelii)
This species is still unable to breed by human.
Native Place: South Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Kalimantan, Java, Borneo and Sumatra. It likes to live in the forest at the estuary of the river and in blackish water.
Characteristics: Medium size, which is about 2.8-3 meters long with slender and sharp long mouth.
Biology: - Lay 20-60 eggs during the dry season.
  - Hatch for 2.5-3 months until the beginning of rainy season.
Crocodile are useful

general, we believe that only crocodile skin is useful. However, from the research in China, there are many products from crocodile that are useful in medical field.

Such as

1. Meat Besides cooking, the Chinese use it as an ingredient for herbs medicine to cure asthma.
2. Bile Use as an ingredient to make medicine to cure allergy and urinary bladder cancer.
3. Oil Use as an ingredient to make medicine to cure skin disease, burnt and wound.
4. Teeth Use as a medicine for swabbing the throat.
5. Bone Use as an ingredient to make medicine to cure rheumatism.
6. Blood Use to cure early stage of liver cancer.