Crocodiles, Alligators Eat
Fruits, Say Biologists
Nile crocodiles, American alligators and
other crocodilians enjoy fruits along with their normal meat-heavy diets of
mammals, birds, and fish, according to a team of biologists led by Prof Frank
Mazzotti from the University and there , reported in the Journal of
Zoology, looked at 18 crocodilian species ranging from the American
alligator to the Nile crocodile.
The results show that 13 of the species consumed
some form of fruit including a variety of berries, legumes, nuts, and grains.
While the team says some of the fruit ingestion
may have been incidental to prey capture, evidence shows that other fruit is
consumed deliberately and in large quantities.
Much remains to be learned about how crocodilians
process carbohydrates and other plant-based nutrients, though studies suggest
that fruit eating is likely to yield nutritional rewards for crocodilians.
“Although underreported, fruit eating appears
widespread among crocodilians,” said study first author Steven Platt from the
Wildlife Conservation Society.
“Given the biomass of crocodiles in many
subtropical and tropical wetlands and their capacity for ingesting large
numbers of fruits, we consider it likely that crocodilians function as
significant seed dispersal agents in many freshwater ecosystems.”
