Variation in the Diet of Hatchling Morelet’s Crocodile (<i>Crocodylus moreletii</i>) in the Wild

Abstract

The relationship between diet and behavior is essential to understanding an animal’s strategies to obtain food, considering ontogenical changes. In reptiles, there is a relationship between the length of the individual and the size of the prey it consumes. Studies have focused on the ontogenetic changes in reptile diets from hatchling to adult, but only a few studies have focused on the transition from hatchling to juvenile. We aimed to describe and analyze the composition, variation, diversity, and overlap in the diet of hatchling Morelet’s crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii) for three size intervals during the hatchling–juvenile transition. We captured 31 hatchling Morelet’s crocodiles in an urbanized lagoon in Tabasco. We performed stomach-flushing to determine the diet. Additionally, we estimated the volume, frequency of occurrence, and relative importance of diet items and analyzed the relationship between prey type and the total length of the individuals. The diversity of the hatchling prey suggests a generalist diet. We observed two items not previously described in the diet of hatchling crocodiles. In addition, we found differences in diet between the initial and final size intervals, as increases in the length of prey appeared that they did not consume when they were hatchlings. Our results contribute new information to the dietary changes that occur during the hatchling–juvenile transition.

Keywords

• crocodilia
• dietary pattern
• ontogenetic change