Saltwater crocodile

The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile. Guinness lists a 6.17 m (about 20 ft) male caught in the Philippines in 2011 as the largest ever kept in captivity. The Australian Museum describes a wild crocodile measured in 1974 at 6.15 m or more.

Reports of even longer animals exist, but only measured specimens are counted here.

Context

The saltwater, or estuarine, crocodile lives from eastern India through Southeast Asia to northern Australia and the western Pacific, and can occupy rivers, mangroves and open coastline. Adult males typically reach about 4.3 to 5 metres, so animals approaching 6 metres are exceptional. Females are much smaller than males.

The captive record belonged to a male nicknamed Lolong, caught in a river system in the Philippines in 2011 and measured by an Australian crocodile specialist at about 6.17 metres. He died in captivity in 2013. Before him, a crocodile named Cassius at an Australian wildlife park was recognised for size, at roughly 5.5 metres.

Length claims for crocodilians are famously unreliable, because skins stretch, measurements are often taken from skulls and estimates are sometimes exaggerated. That is why this entry counts animals that were measured by experts, and why stories of 7-metre or larger crocodiles are treated with caution. Skull size and tail length can help estimate body length, but such figures remain estimates, not verified records.