Why do crocs & alligators get so big?

Question

A large lion & lionness weigh less than a large female nile croc.A bear also is alot larger than a lion but salt water croc can weigh much much more then a polar bear..Why?

Answer 1

Its because Nile and Saltwater Crocodiles need to be big because of the large-size prey they take down by themselves like Water Buffalo, Horses, Cows, and others. Male Saltwater crocs average 15-16 feet and weigh over 1650 pounds and a 1700 pound crocodile can take down prey 1000-2200 pounds. In the water even though their heavy a 16 foot male can swim 15-18 miles per hour. Salties can take on bull sharks, tiger sharks, and probably great white sharks. A 10 foot saltwater crocodile (saltie) has killed a 11-12 foot tiger sharks. They have killed bull sharks and would win 8/10 times with a great white shark.

So they have to be big because Nile and Saltwater crocodiles live in places were you have to be tough, big, strong to survive to the tough conditions and to take down huge size prey. They are so powerful, big and strong for like the nile croc can defend itself from lions, which is very easy for them. Both nile and saltwater crocodiles have thicker skin they hippos.
m+m is right that crocs have not kill Great white sharks but I was just saying what I heard, learned and was told. They have killed bull sharks, and tiger sharks, I was told when I went to Australia by a scientist.

Answer 2

If you look at it in the grand scheme of crocodilian sizes, though, they're actually quite small.

A skeleton that was reproduced from a skull and various pieces found in the sahara desert made a crocodile that was over 45 feet long. This animal would have been able to eat ANYTHING that it wanted to. If he wanted to take down a T-Rex, he would have. No problem.

Some people say a comet or a big volcanic eruption or an ice age killed off the dinosaurs. I know better. The alligators and crocodiles ate all the dinosaurs and when they ran out of dinosaurs they just couldn't get that big anymore and had to eat smaller stuff, and that's why they're the size they are now.

(basically because alligators and crocodiles rock and we should just give up trying to be cool around them.)

Answer 3

There is an ecological need for large animals such as zebra and wildebeest to have their populations kept in check. If these large grazers did not have a natural predator such as a crocodile they would quickly eat everything and sight and the species as a whole would starve and go extinct. Additionally, slow, weak, or old zebra and wildebeest will be eaten and their slow and weak genes will not be passed on to the next generation if they have not reproduced up to that point.

The crocodile moved in to fill the ecological niche as there was a need for that niche to be filled. This meant the animal would need to be larger and stronger to fill this niche with each and every passing generation. Crocodiles which were too small and weak did not survive, reproduce, and pass on small and weak genes to any offspring. Larger, more powerful crocodiles did survive to pass on those genes.

Answer 4

i agree with croccroc except the bit about salties killing sharks...there is no recorded evidence of salties killing Bull,Tiger or especially Great whites...