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Crocodilian Sensory Systems

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Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior
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Synonyms

Crocodile Alligator Vision Hearing

Definition

Sensory modalities that allow crocodilians to interact with the world.

Introduction

Crocodilians have captured the imagination of scientists and the general public for decades. This is partially explained by their morphology and lore of being ancient hunters. Their habitat is diverse, from open waters in lakes and rivers to marshes and swamps to even beaches and the ocean. The main connecting thread among all these niches is the semiaquatic nature of their lifestyles. Aside from living and foraging in the water, crocodilians come to land to thermoregulate and rest. Typically crocodilians are endemic to areas around the equator, with exceptions of the American and Chinese alligators, whose ranges extend as far north as the south-eastern of the United States and the Yangtze River in central China. Crocodilians also prefer the lowlands, with rare exceptions. No crocodilian permanently resides in the ocean, although in Australian some...

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Correspondence to Daphne Soares .

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Soares, D., Bierman, H. (2018). Crocodilian Sensory Systems. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_931-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_931-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

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