Why Crocodilians Matter

It would be easy, after a chapter of tragedy, to think of crocodilians only as a threat to be endured or eliminated. That would be a profound mistake — ecologically, culturally, and morally. Crocodilians are not a flaw in an otherwise pleasant landscape. They are among the pillars that hold the landscape up, and creatures whose survival reflects something important about who we choose to be.

An apex predator and a keystone species

As the top predators of the rivers, swamps and wetlands where they live, crocodilians shape the entire ecosystem beneath them. Scientists describe crocodilians as apex predators and keystone species: animals whose presence regulates the populations of other species, maintains the balance and structure of the food web, and helps keep the whole freshwater and coastal system healthy and resilient. Remove crocodilians and the system does not become safer or richer; it becomes unbalanced. Predators at the top keep prey populations in check, recycle nutrients through the system, and sustain a diversity of life that collapses without them. Crocodilians are, in the truest sense, load-bearing.