Meet the black caiman. A caiman is a reptile. As of November 2026, it is the largest caiman. It lives in the Amazon. The Amazon is a huge river area. It likes slow rivers, lakes and flooded land.

A black caiman can grow longer than 4 metres. The biggest old males can be longer than 5 metres. Old males can weigh over 400 kilograms.

A grown black caiman is among the biggest predators in its part of the Amazon. A predator hunts other animals. Its skin is dark. It often hunts at night. It eats fish, such as catfish. It may eat animals as big as a capybara.

A mother black caiman builds a mound nest for her eggs. She builds it in the dry season. A nest holds about 40 eggs. The eggs take about two to three months to hatch. The mother stays close to her nest. She opens it when the eggs are ready to hatch.

Baby black caimans stay together in groups. A young caiman eats insects and small animals. As it grows, it eats bigger prey, such as fish. They live in slow rivers, lakes and flooded land in the Amazon, a huge river area.

Words to know

• predator: animal hunter
• capybara: big rodent
• mound: pile of earth
• hatch: break out