More often than not, I’ve seen people getting mixed up between crocodiles and alligators. While they both belong to the Crocodilia order, they are members of two quite separate taxonomic families. Besides, alligators DO NOT live in Africa!

The following highlights the major differences between the two species.

Overview

– You can’t see an alligator’s teeth when its mouth is closed; its lower teeth fit snugly into pits in the upper jaw. In contrast, a crocodile’s lower teeth are always visible.

– Alligators have a broad snout, while crocodiles have a thinner snout.

– Alligators tend to be grayish black in color, whereas crocodiles have a olive green or brown appearance.

– Alligators can only be found in the southeastern United States and in some parts of China. Crocodiles can be found all over the world


A more contrasting mix up found especially here on nairaland is the mix up between monitor lizards and alligators, especially owing to the fact that one of our most loved admin here loves his reptilian fantasies

As already stated, alligators are not found in Africa, so my beloved nlanders, anything you kill that looks like a big lizard , is a monitor lizard and not an alligator, and anything you kill that looks like a crocodile is actually a crocidile and not an alligator .

Read more below:

http://www.livescience.com/32144-whats-the-difference-between-alligators-and-crocodiles.html

Also check out some pictures below

Alligators.

Monitor lizards

Crocodiles

Nice one. And very helpful for our Nairalanders who keep being confused about which is which. Although they never hesitate to kill & slaughter anyone they see for pepper soup.

thesicilian:
Nice one. And very helpful for our Nairalanders who keep being confused about which is which. Although they never hesitate to kill & slaughter anyone they see for pepper soup.

I actually made this post cos of a thread I read through yesterday were a guy killed a monitor lizard and mistook it for an aligator...

aligator in his farm... I had a good laugh at that.

lalasticlala , u may also need to read through cos you love this reptiles so much

Nice one OP. You are the next best thing to Nigerians after Osinbanjo

ddddon:
Nice one OP. You are the next best thing to Nigerians after Osinbanjo

amin


i'll keep that at heart and quote you when that feat is acheived...sir

U are very wrong with some of your post. Alligators are very common worldwide. I live in Benin city. Infact alligators are very common in many markets in Benin city. The sellers will bind their mouths with carved stakes and twines,with their hands and legs tied behind. I have never seen crocodiles live in d markets except killed and dried ones. I have also seen alligators in many other states in Nigeria. Please confirm these facts. Even ur 5th pic is neither a crocodile,alligator nor a monitor. It is a komodo dragon and it is found in only one place in d world.

number5:
More often than not, I’ve seen people getting mixed up between crocodiles and alligators. While they both belong to the Crocodilia order, they are members of two quite separate taxonomic families. Besides, alligators DO NOT live in Africa!

The following highlights the major differences between the two species.

Overview

– You can’t see an alligator’s teeth when its mouth is closed; its lower teeth fit snugly into pits in the upper jaw. In contrast, a crocodile’s lower teeth are always visible.

– Alligators have a broad snout, while crocodiles have a thinner snout.

– Alligators tend to be grayish black in color, whereas crocodiles have a olive green or brown appearance.

– Alligators can only be found in the southeastern United States and in some parts of China. Crocodiles can be found all over the world


A more contrasting mix up found especially here on nairaland is the mix up between monitor lizards and alligators, especially owing to the fact that one of our most loved admin here loves his reptilian fantasies

As already stated, alligators are not found in Africa, so my beloved nlanders, anything you kill that looks like a big lizard , is a monitor lizard and not an alligator, and anything you kill that looks like a crocodile is actually a crocidile and not an alligator .

Read more below:

http://www.livescience.com/32144-whats-the-difference-between-alligators-and-crocodiles.html

Also check out some pictures below

Are you really sure alligators are not found in Africa or that someone made you believe that. In my local language we have names for crocodile, alligator and monitor lizard so how did the names come about if there is no alligator in Africa.
in my LGA alligators are caught every week and are common site in local markets.

oz4real83:
U are very wrong with some of your post. Alligators are very common worldwide. I live in Benin city. Infact alligators are very common in many markets in Benin city. The sellers will bind their mouths with carved stakes and twines,with their hands and legs tied behind. I have never seen crocodiles live in d markets except killed and dried ones. I have also seen alligators in many other states in Nigeria. Please confirm these facts. Even ur 5th pic is neither a crocodile,alligator nor a monitor. It is a komodo dragon and it is found in only one place in d world.

my post is very well confirmed sir..you can make your own research and report back here.

the boarder line between a croc and an alligator is very slim..so my guess is that what you see in ur benin market is a monitor lizard wich most nigerians mistake for an alligator..pls ooh that long slim one that looks like a glorified lizard is no alligator..an alligator is as big as a crocodile and looks like it in many features.

as for the fifth pix, the head of a little komodo and a big monitor lizard looks alike when compared. thats a specie of monitor lizard and not komodo..

komodos are found nowere near nigeria.

monitor lizard is called anta in my dialect

greenmonk:


Are you really sure alligators are not found in Africa or that someone made you believe that. In my local language we have names for crocodile, alligator and monitor lizard so how did the names come about if there is no alligator in Africa.
in my LGA alligators are caught every week and are common site in local markets.

you can make your research and confirm your claim...

google is our friend and hardly ever misleads especially in such issues of research.

like I earliar stated, most of what we have here in Nigeria are monitor lizards and crocodiles..even the outer world hardly distinguish between a croc and an alligator most times because the similarities is overwhelming.. monitor lizard on the other hand looks more like a little komodo Dragon and stays most times at the banks of small rivers and lakes, and live largely on land than on water...

Kakamorufu:
monitor lizard is called anta in my dialect

most dialects have the name for it..

I grew up in a forest region, and dose monitor lizards were our prey alot of times, they even come down to our house sometimes even though we were not staying close to any river.

then we used to call them "alligator" like most nigerians now do

number5:



most dialects have the name for it..

I grew up in a forest region, and dose monitor lizards were our prey alot of times, they even come down to our house sometimes even though we were not staying close to any river.

then we used to call them "alligator" like most nigerians now do

he he he he. I didn't remember if I called it alligator, but I remember seeing it's picture in a friend dictionary back then in primary school. The name has been in my head since then

There are Alligators in Edo state and no they are not monitor lizards, even their claws is enough to know the difference + the snake like tongue of theirs.

If you doubt this, take a walk to Uselu market and see alligators for yourself.

number5:



you can make your research and confirm your claim...

google is our friend and hardly ever misleads especially in such issues of research.

like I earliar stated, most of what we have here in Nigeria are monitor lizards and crocodiles..even the outer world hardly distinguish between a croc and an alligator most times because the similarities is overwhelming.. monitor lizard on the other hand looks more like a little komodo Dragon and stays most times at the banks of small rivers and lakes, and live largely on land than on water...

I don't need research to know what I experience everyday. Woe betide any person in the Niger Delta who mistakes a croc for an alligator, he won't live to regret his mistake. What ur research says is same as telling us that mongu park discovered the river Niger. Our ancestors where already here when mongu park came. Google is written by the white man and no credit is given to Africa in most of their research. Monitor lizards are just like a bigger version of the lizard while the crocs and alligators are similar aside their snorts, The crocs grow bigger and longer in full maturity, so any one who confuses one for the other will regret his mistake.

stop deceiving yourself.... alligator and crocodile are the same.
crocodiles are found in Africa while alligators are in America,posting same species while one opening its mouth is delusional

A crocodile looks more bigger than an alligator

Alligators can be found in Nigeria op

g

There are no alligators in Africa. What we have is the nile croc up north and the west African croc (smaller and often confused with alligator) . Nile croc attacks and eat humans if given the chance bt a west African croc wont.

Alligators dey here wella

olof dem na food for OGa lala

Op what of Iguana?

This alligator pepper some of you grew up has confused you with Alligator lizards.

Gators are not found in Africa. Crocs are. Komodo dragons are not indigenous to Africa too.

Stop chewing garbage.

iamoyindamola:
stop deceiving yourself.... alligator and crocodile are the same.
crocodiles are found in Africa while alligators are in America,posting same species while one opening its mouth is delusional

Why are you obstinate because white men told u that there is no alligator in Africa. Did the white man who told you that come to my village?
Crocs are rampant in the river Niger while alligators and monitor lizards are very common in the delta swamps of Rivers state, Delta, bayelsa, Edo and parts of IMO States. U don't do your research on the Internet and argue with someone reporting live from the Niger delta swamp land.
Crocs are ferocious while alligator and monitor lizards will run away if you meet them. Crocs live most of lives in water and hunt in the water while they rarely attack on land.

oz4real83:
U are very wrong with some of your post. Alligators are very common worldwide. I live in Benin city. Infact alligators are very common in many markets in Benin city. The sellers will bind their mouths with carved stakes and twines,with their hands and legs tied behind. I have never seen crocodiles live in d markets except killed and dried ones. I have also seen alligators in many other states in Nigeria. Please confirm these facts. Even ur 5th pic is neither a crocodile,alligator nor a monitor. It is a komodo dragon and it is found in only one place in d world.

The 5th picture is a monitor. Even tho they look alike, komodo dragons are way bigger than monitor lizards with huge jaws

make I park here. this argument looks interesting

None of the useless reptiles wants to close their mouth for us to difeferentiate between alligator and crocodile

Ayam not ondastandin o