Saltwater Crocodile - Distribution

Distribution

The saltwater crocodile is one of the three crocodilians found in India, the other two being the more widespread, smaller Mugger crocodile and the narrow-snouted, fish-eating Gharial. Apart from the eastern coast of India, the saltwater crocodile is extremely rare in the Indian subcontinent. A huge population of saltwater crocodiles (consisting of many large adults, including a 7-metre male) is present within the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary of Orissa and they are known to be present in smaller numbers throughout the Indian and Bangladesh portions of the Sundarbans.

In northern Australia (which includes the northernmost parts of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland) the Saltwater Crocodile is thriving, particularly in the multiple river systems near Darwin (such as the Adelaide, Mary and Daly Rivers, along with their adjacent billabongs and estuaries) where large (6 metre +) individuals are not uncommon. The Saltwater Crocodile population in Australia is estimated at somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 adults. In Australia, the species co-exists with the smaller, narrow-snouted Johnston's or freshwater crocodile. Their range extends from Broome in Western Australia through the entire Northern Territory coast all the way down to Rockhampton in Queensland. The Alligator Rivers in the Arnhem Land region are misnamed due to the resemblance of the saltwater crocodile to alligators as compared to freshwater crocodiles, which also inhabit the Northern Territory. In New Guinea they are also common, existing within the coastal reaches of virtually every river system in the country, along with all estuaries and mangroves. There the overlap in range with the rarer, less aggressive New Guinea Crocodile. They are also present in varying numbers throughout the Bismarck Archipelago, the Kai Islands, the Aru Islands, the Maluku Islands, and many other islands within the region including Timor, and most islands within the Torres Strait.

The saltwater crocodile was historically found throughout the South-east Asia but is now extinct throughout much of this range. This species has not been reported in the wild for decades in most of Indochina and is extinct in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and possibly Cambodia. The status of this species is critical within much of Myanmar, but there is a stable population of many large adults present in the Irrawaddy Delta. It is probable that the only country in Indochina still harboring wild populations of this species is Myanmar. Although Saltwater Crocodiles were once very common in the Mekong Delta (from where they disappeared in the 1980s) and other river systems, the future of this species in Indochina is now looking grim. However, it is also the least likely of crocodilians to become globally extinct due to its wide distribution and almost pre-colonial population sizes in Northern Australia and New Guinea.

The population is sporadic in Indonesia and Malaysia with some areas harbouring large populations (Borneo and Sumatra, for example) and others with very small, at-risk populations (e.g., Peninsular Malaysia). Despite the close proximity to the crocodile hot-bed of northern Australia, crocodiles no longer exist in Bali. This species is also extinct on Lombok, Komodo and most of Java. A small population may remain within Ujung Kulon National Park in western Java. The saltwater crocodile is also present in very limited parts of the South Pacific, with an average population in the Solomon Islands, a very small and soon to be extinct population in Vanuatu (where the population officially stands at only three) and a decent but at-risk population (which may be rebounding) in Palau. Saltwater crocodiles once ranged as far west as the east coast of Africa at the Seychelles Islands. These crocodiles were once believed to be a population of Nile crocodiles, but they were later proven to be Crocodylus porosus.

Due to its tendency to travel very long distances at sea, individual saltwater crocodiles occasionally show up in areas of which they are not native. Vagrant individuals have historically been reported on New Caledonia, Iwo Jima, Fiji, and even in the relatively frigid Sea of Japan (thousands of miles from their native territory.) In late 2008/early 2009 a handful of wild saltwater crocodiles were verified to be living within the river systems of Fraser Island, hundreds of kilometres from, and in much cooler water than, their normal Queensland range. It was discovered that these crocodiles did indeed migrate south to the island from northern Queensland during the warmer wet season and presumably returned to the north upon the seasonal temperature drop. Despite the surprise and shock within the Fraser Island public, this is apparently not new behaviour, and in the distant past wild crocodiles had been reported occasionally appearing as far south as Brisbane during the warmer wet season.