Where They Live — and Why Clear Water Is Not Safe

Crocodiles and alligators live in a far wider range of water than most people picture. Rivers, lakes, swamps, marshes and backwaters; mangrove estuaries, tidal creeks, brackish lagoons, and — for the true crocodiles — the open coast and the sea itself. And increasingly the human-made kind: drainage canals, farm ponds, stormwater retention ponds, golf-course lakes, marina channels, borrow pits, even the clear spring a family drives out to on a hot day. If it holds warm water for much of the year and sits in crocodilian country, assume it can hold a crocodilian. The landscaping around it means nothing.