What is the difference between alligators, crocodiles, cimens and gavials?
Snout shape can be a misleading way to tell these animals apart, especially if you include caimans – they’re alligatorids (more closely related to alligators than to crocodiles), but some have more crocodile-like snouts. Anyway – Three basic groups within Crocodylia – Alligatoridae (alligators and caimans), Crocodylidae (true crocodiles and possibly the false gharial), and Gavialoidea (the Indian gharial and possibly the false gharial – there’s conflicting information about where the false gharial goes taxonomically). Living alligatorids have a complete overbite, and the lower teeth are not visible when the jaws are closed. Living crocodylids and gavialoids have an interfingering dentition, and upper and lower teeth are both visible when the jaws are closed. However, it is very clear that they did not inherit this feature from their last common ancestor – it’s convergent. The Indian and false gharials both have very tube-shaped snouts, but whether this is convergent or not is controver
