Cuvier’s Smooth-Fronted Caiman

Paleosuchus palpebrosus. Paraguay River, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Mounted specimen, circa 1830.

The caiman, which arrived at the museum from Brazil in about 1830, is an example of early taxidermy, but also represents an exciting piece of zoological research history.

MINI CROCODILE
“I finally received Champsa gibbiceps from the Ribeirao do Guacurizal, a mountain stream near Jacobina, three miles east of Villa Maria on the Paraguay River. It can apparently only be found in stony forest streams”, wrote Austrian naturalist Johann Natterer of his discovery of the small caiman on 25 March 1828. The exact description of the location seemed all the more important to him because he was convinced that he had found a new species.
Later it turned out that the smooth-fronted caiman had already been scientifically described and named twenty years earlier. Nevertheless, Natterer’s information and, above all, his extremely detailed illustrations provided an important basis for later scientific research on the group.
Smooth-fronted caimans are some of the smallest living crocodilian species. The male grows no longer than 1.6 meters, the female up to 1.2 meters. Its small size is its most effective form of protection. Humans have never regarded the tiny alligator as a threat, and its small size combined with extremely hard plates make the skin worthless to the leather industry.
Approximately a million smooth-fronted caimans now live in streams, rivers and ponds in the mountain rainforests of northern South America. They eat primarily crabs and fish; their young eat small invertebrate animals such as water snails. The mound nests made of earth and plant materials are generally well hidden in the underbrush. Their rather inaccessible habitat, which has remained largely untouched by human influence, will hopefully remain intact for many years to come.