In West Africa, nile crocodiles can be found most frequently in coastal lagoons and estuaries. However in East Africa they are found mostly in rivers, lakes, marshes and dams.

Nile crocodiles are dark bronze in colour. The flanks are yellowish green in colour. Their colouration also aids camouflage.

They have four short splayed legs, a powerful tail and very powerful jaws. They lie in wait underneath the surface of the water with only their nostrils, eyes and ears above the surface. They normally crawl on their bellies but are capable of ‘walking’ at up to 8.5 miles per hour in short bursts. In the water they travel much faster at up to 22 miles per hour.

The force of their bite was measured by Dr Brady Barr at 22,000 Newtons. Although the muscles required to close the mouth are very strong, the muscles which open the mouth are exceptionally weak, allowing a man to easily hold shut a crocodiles mouth will little force.

A male crocodile can be 5 metres long, though very old crocodiles can be 5.5 metres long or more. They usually weigh around 225 kilograms though, again, very large or older specimens can weigh 900 kilograms. Mature female crocodiles measure around 2.5 to 3.9 metres long and weigh typically around 227 to 300 kilograms.

The Nile crocodile has no predators in its natural habitat (it is the apex predator for its habitat), the only possible threat is that of other species of its own kind.