Why Are There No Crocodiles In Europe?

Why Are There No Crocodiles In Europe?

Why are there no crocodiles in Europe?
The simple answer is that there used to be. But how did they get there and why don’t we find them living across Europe today?
Let’s first look back at the crocodile’s evolutionary history to find out where it came from and, perhaps, where it is going. Some scientists believe that with climate change, we may soon find crocodiles in European seas and waterways once more.
If we trace back the ancestry of crocodiles, we can find a common ancestor that lived more than 200 million years ago. This was during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods. Today's crocodiles and alligators are the only living members of a group of reptiles called the pseudosuchians. These were a broad and varied group that first arrived on the scene 235 million years ago around the same time as the first dinosaurs.
They varied dramatically in their size and the habitat niches they occupied. One called Deinosuchus lurked in swamps and grew up to 40 feet long. Others were purely marine predators hunting alongside the likes of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. The earliest forms were believed to be more active than today's crocodiles and many lived purely on land. The variety of species differed in their dietary requirements too. Whilst some were entirely carnivorous, others were omnivores, and others herbivores.
But over the years, the carnivorous crocodilians dominated and became more aquatic. The herbivorous and land-dwelling crocodilians died out.
There are 18 species of crocodile alive today with the saltwater crocodile being the largest. These can grow up to 20 feet or 6 meters long and weigh over a ton. They are considered the largest reptile on the planet.

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#crocodile #europe #wildlife

[seanmckelvey]

I always figured the answer to this question was pretty obvious. Europe is too cold during winter for large reptiles in general. Only the alligators are able to handle colder climates, but even they aren't found that far north of the equator.

[byoml]

Winter is too long maybe a alligator can survive southern Europe but a crocodile can’t handle a winter longer than a couple weeks. Alligators can handle a longer and colder winter than crocodiles

[NightBane]

Crocodilians is one of my fav type of animals ever, the diversity, but similarities are just too amazing and beautiful. Along with the proof, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, since they've changed so little over all these millions years

[simonfarre]

Interestingly many of the mythologies of europe, talk about dragons whose descriptions seem to match crocodiles 1-to-1. That could very well just have been something that survived in the social memory of those who migrated some 10k years ago, though.

[Justicsgenie]

8 year old me was always sad that there are no crocs in europe 23 year old me is happy there are no crocs in Europe

[nickmitsialis]

I am more curios why monitor lizards don't live in the warmer parts of Southern Europe (Greece, Spain, Italy, parts of Turkey).

[dawnfyre]

I've done some light reading if crocodiles ever crossed the Mediterranean and there definitely exists some evidence of sightings across some isles as well as along the south-eastern coastline.

[childelee]

Don’t listen to this guy. Everybody knows that the crocodiles in Europe evolved far differently from those in the other parts of the world. They grew wings and began to blow fire out of their mouths. They also started shitting gold and started kidnapping princesses for some reason. The knights had to go on a genocide war on them. That’s why there is no crocodile in Europe.

[wilianrodrigues]

Love how the simple answer at the start of the video essentially explains nothing other than there used to be crocodiles.

[SIG]

Ice bears are already sighted in Alaska and Northern Norway, even mixing with already present bears from other species. It's a matter of time to see Ice bear hybrids trough out Canada and Scandinavia. Perhaps even Russia.

[trentmcelroy]

Its too cold.. there, I just saved you 10 minutes

[regorflora]

In our capital Manila, there are crocodiles lurking on the main highways.

[garethwigglesworth]

We are too civilised for crocodiles. Europe is a garden not a jungle.

[stevengodoy]

No wonder the Welsh thought dragons were taking their sheep.

[ValeriVassilev]

There are actually... For example I live in north Bulgaria, next to Dunave river we had a couple gators. I've heard stories about gators in Greece and Italy too.

[DNC_Patrik]

Thanks for the video. It was very interesting! I never thought about how the climate change could mean the increase on species that need more heat. Also, the voice is really comfy to listen to! I hope the contamination from human really decreases with time, i love animals T^T

[dudeybagz]

There’s no crocodiles in Europe because they seen what the French do with frogs.

[Darzgul_YT]

The answer is simple, we french ate all of them years ago, now we only have frogs left !

[josefonseca]

I literally just searched this like 10 days ago and didn’t find an explanation…

[geraldcasimatis]

I once read that crocodiles living in the Nile River Delta would sometimes disperse along the Sinai and Palestine coasts. This was probably only possible before the building of the Aswan Dam whilst the lack of suitable estuaries and hunting on the way north would also limit their expansion. These expansion could have only occurred during warmer periods in historical times for such records to exist.