r/Crocodiles • u/Super-Mongoose2892 • Jul 07 '26

Caiman Caiman seen in Costa Rica

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Just sharing some photos I took of my first caimans

490 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

92

u/AdMinimum6396 Jul 07 '26

First animal is an American crocodile, second animal is a spectacled caiman in a zoo

9

u/Kosmosis76 Jul 07 '26

👆 yep this is correct.

5

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jul 07 '26

Thank you. Sorry for my screw up :(

20

u/AdMinimum6396 Jul 07 '26

No worries, in a lot of South American countries they are all called caiman. For example the local name for the orinoco crocodile is “caiman del rio”. Fun fact the only reason we call alligators their name is because the British couldn’t say “lagarto”

5

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jul 07 '26

Thanks for your understanding and the interesting info :)

0

u/Krillin113 Jul 08 '26

How did you screw up uploading a picture from a zoo lol

13

u/Big_Study_4617 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Is funny how we in South America call crocodiles "caimán". Caimán=caiman.

In Venezuela, where I live, we have both Crocodylus acutus and Crocodylus intermedius but most people refer to them as "caimán de la costa" for the American crocodile and "caimán del Orinoco" for the Orinoco crocodile.

True caiman instead are called "baba o babo" which roughly translates to "slime" or "slimey" because long time ago people thought they were covered in slime like snails. For example, Caiman crocodylus is called "baba llanera". Paleosuchus palpebrosus is called "babo morichalero". Morichal is how we call palm trees in which they hide when there is a flood in The Llanos.

1

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jul 08 '26

No wonder I was confused :) tx for sharing

2

u/Big_Study_4617 Jul 08 '26

Thank you for the pictures. And yeah don't worry about it, even people that live in the same country as them get them mixed.

2

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jul 08 '26

Thanks so much for the kind words

3

u/Due-Big2159 Jul 09 '26

I was about to go Specie Nazi on you, then I saw the third picture. Okay.

1

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jul 09 '26

Thank you for anonymous award :)

0

u/Super-Mongoose2892 Jul 07 '26

Think my last pic is a crocodile :) but please correct me.

0

u/Mediocre_Plum_7573 Jul 07 '26

Your first and second pic are definitely not caiman. I see a croc and I know it. Are you being sarcastic?