The black caiman is a reptile in the alligator family. As of November 2026, it is the largest kind of caiman. It lives in the Amazon, a huge river area in South America, in slow rivers, lakes and flooded land. A black caiman can grow longer than 4 metres, and the biggest old males can be longer than 5 metres. Old males can weigh more than 400 kilograms. Its skin is dark.

A grown black caiman is among the biggest predators in its part of the Amazon. It often hunts at night. It hunts mostly in the water, but it may come onto land to hunt. It eats fish, such as piranhas and catfish, and it may even eat animals as big as a capybara. A young black caiman eats insects and small animals. As it grows, it eats bigger prey, such as fish. Large predators like the black caiman can shape the community of animals around them.

In the dry season, a mother black caiman builds a mound nest for her eggs. The nest holds about 40 eggs, and the eggs take about two to three months to hatch. The mother stays close to the nest. The eggs often hatch when the rainy season begins, and the mother opens the nest. The babies stay together in groups. Adult black caimans make loud, rumbling sounds that other black caimans can hear.

Scientists knew little about black caimans until the 1980s, and few good studies of their habits have been made. People hunted black caimans for their skins, which make shiny black leather. Hunting cut the number of black caimans by about 99 percent in the 20th century. That is an estimate. Clearing forest and burning swamps destroys their homes and slows the recovery of their numbers.

As of March 2013, some countries, such as Brazil, had given the black caiman legal protection. In 1990, Bolivia began a program to breed black caimans in captivity and set them free. In some places the number of black caimans is coming back. As of November 2026, records say most populations appear to be recovering well. They live in slow rivers, lakes and flooded land in the Amazon.

Words to know

• predators: animal hunters
• capybara: big rodent
• mound: pile of earth
• estimate: careful guess
• captivity: human care