Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)

node · earth · Mara River and Lake Victoria basin

A large ambush predator resident in the Mara River whose pools concentrate crocodiles at the habitual crossing points. Crocodiles are the visible cause of death at crossings, but the quantified mortality work shows that most carcasses entering the river come from drowning and trampling in the crush rather than from predation, and that crocodile and vulture consumption removes only part of the resulting biomass. Globally the species is assessed Least Concern, though that assessment dates to 1996 and is old enough that it should be treated as stale rather than current.