How Can You Tell A Crocodile From An Alligator?

If you are unlucky enough to get close enough to a crocodile or an alligator and you are still interested enough to know which reptile you are faced with, there is an easy way to tell the two apart. When a crocodile's jaw is closed, its pair of large lower fourth teeth are clearly visible. They fit into notches in the upper jaw. In the alligator, the same teeth fit into bony pits and so do not show from the outside.

The position of the teeth and the way they are set into the jaw of a crocodile gives this reptile is characteristic grinning expression when its mouth is closed.

Some people say that another way to distinguish the two animals is because alligators have broad snouts and alligators have more pointed ones. However, this is not always true as snout size and shape varies with individual species. Crocodiles from the American continent have narrower snouts than those found in Africa or Asia, but they are all still crocodiles.