Black Caiman - Reproduction

Reproduction

At the end of the dry season, females build a nest of soil and vegetation, which is about 1.5 meters (5 ft) across and 0.75 meters wide (2.5 ft). They lay up to 65 eggs (though usually somewhere between 30 and 60), which hatch in about six weeks, at the beginning of the wet season, when newly-flooded marshes provide ideal habitat for the juveniles once hatched. The eggs are quite large, averaging 144 g (5.1 oz) in weight. Unguarded clutches are quickly devoured by a wide array of animals, regularly including mammals such as coatis and rodents and birds such as herons and vultures. Predation is so common that black caimans count on their young to survive via safety in numbers. Hatching is said to occur between 42 and 90 days after the eggs are laid. It is well documented that, as with other crocodilians, caimans frequently move their young from the nest in their mouths after hatching (whence the erroneous belief that they eat their young), and transport them to a safe pool. The mother will assist chirping, unhatched young to break out of the leathery eggs, by delicately breaking the eggs between her teeth. She will look after her young for several months. The female black caiman only breeds once every 2 to 3 years.