Crocodile

Overview

Crocodiles are ambush predators with extraordinary tolerance for waiting, and a body plan that has needed very little revision for a very long time.

They cannot be drowned.

Physical traits

The skin is reinforced with osteoderms — bony plates embedded in the dermis — giving armour without sacrificing flexibility.

The jaw musculature is arranged for closing rather than opening. A saltwater crocodile’s bite is the most powerful ever measured in a living animal, while the muscles that open the jaw are weak enough to be held shut by hand.

Integumentary sense organs stud the jaws and, in some species, the whole body — small dome pressure receptors capable of detecting minute disturbances in water, letting a crocodile locate prey in complete darkness.

The eyes, ears and nostrils sit along a single plane on top of the skull, so a crocodile can remain almost entirely submerged while fully sensing the surface. A palatal valve seals the throat, allowing the mouth to open underwater.

Lifespan

Crocodiles are long-lived, and the reason is their magic rather than anything about the animal’s biology.

Combined with a naturally long-lived body, that makes them one of the longest-lived kin species there is. It is worth keeping in proportion — plenty of species elsewhere in this guide simply do not die of old age at all, and against that, longest-lived among kin is a narrower distinction than it sounds.

Magic

The species fixes nothing beyond the immunity. Some crocodiles are tied to magic heavily and some barely at all, and what form it takes is their own.

Not being drownable is the one universal, and it is the thing responsible for their lifespan as well.

Shared instincts

The waiting is genuine and it is the species’ defining instinct — hours motionless is routine, the low metabolism means months can pass between meals, and the strike when it comes is explosive and brief.

Parental care is not a species trait. Wild crocodiles guard nests and carry hatchlings to water in their mouths, and crocodiles here may well do the same, but it is chosen rather than instinctive.

Where the name comes from

Crocodiles are archosaurs — the group that also produced the dinosaurs and, by descent, the birds — so they are more closely related to a sparrow than to any lizard. Saltwater crocodiles reach six or seven metres and over a thousand kilograms.

The ancient-reptile resemblance to dragons and wyverns is coincidence and nothing more. Crocodiles here are proper crocodiles, not water dragons and not wyverns of some kind, and they share no root with either.

Breeds

This entry covers crocodiles strictly. Alligators, caimans and gharials are not included in it.

Field notes

Individual colouring, size and magic belong on each member’s own page.