Yacare caiman
Caiman yacare (Daudin, 1801)
The yacare caiman (Caiman yacare) is a crocodilian reptile in the family Alligatoridae, order Crocodylia, also called the Yacaré, Red caiman, Jacare caiman, Panama caiman or Piranha caiman. It falls in the medium size class, with a representative adult body mass of 12.21 kg and reported values from 10.55 to 17 kg.
Quick facts about the yacare caiman
It lays one clutch of 25 eggs per year, the eggs incubate for 81 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 6 years. Its lifespan is given as 24.1 years, with values up to 60 years, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 10.6 kg – 17 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- up to 3 msrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 24.1 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 60 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- riverine, wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 81 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 22 – 44src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4 years – 6.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the yacare caiman
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the yacare caiman live?
Not recorded
What is the yacare caiman?
The yacare caiman (Caiman yacare), also known commonly as the jacare caiman, Paraguayan caiman, piranha caiman, red caiman, and southern spectacled caiman, is a species of caiman, a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae. The species is indigenous to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Brown in color and covered with dark blotches, males grow to a total length (including tail) of 2–3 m (6 ft 7 in – 9 ft 10 in) and weigh around 40–50 kg (88–110 lb); while females grow to 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) long and about 15–20 kg (33–44 lb). Typical habitats of this caiman include lakes, rivers, and wetlands. Its diet primarily consists of aquatic animals, such as snails, and occasionally land vertebrates. Mating occurs in the rainy season and eggs hatch in March, with young fending for themselves as soon as they hatch. The yacare caiman was hunted heavily for its skin to use for leather in the 1980s, which caused its population to decrease significantly. However, trading restrictions placed since have caused its population to increase. Its population in the Pantanal is about 10 million, and it is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.
From the Wikipedia article “Yacare caiman” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yacare_caiman&oldid=1354640902), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the yacare caiman endangered?
The yacare caiman is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the yacare caiman classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderCrocodylia
- familyAlligatoridae
- genusCaiman
- SpeciesCaiman yacare (Daudin, 1801)
Synonyms Caiman crocodilus matogrossoiensis, Caiman crocodilus paraguayiensis, Caiman crocodilus yacare, Caiman sclerops, Caiman yacare medemi, Champsa vallifrons, Crocodilus yacare, Jacare longiscutata, Jacare multiscutata, Jacare ocellata, Jacaretinga crocodilus, Jacaretinga punctulatus
Other names and names in other languages (35)
- Jacare caimanEnglish
- Panama caimanEnglish
- Paraguayan caimanEnglish
- Piranha caimanEnglish
- Red caimanEnglish
- Southern spectacled caimanEnglish
- YacaréEnglish
- YacaréEnglish
- جكاراArabic
- كايمن جكاراArabic
- kajman yakaréCzech
- BrillenkaimanGerman
- Südlicher BrillenkaimanGerman
- jacareSpanish
- Yacaré negroSpanish
- JacarenkaimaaniFinnish
- JacaraFrench
- Caïman yacareFrench
- yacare kajmánHungarian
- Caimano jacarèItalian
- パラグアイカイマンJapanese
- YacarekaimanNorwegian Bokmål
- YacarekaaimanDutch
- kajman żakarePolish
- Jacaré-do-PantanalPortuguese
- JacaréPortuguese
- Jacaré-de-lunetasPortuguese
- Jacaré-do-ParaguaiPortuguese
- ЖакареRussian
- Парагвайский кайманRussian
- jakarski kajmanSlovenian
- јакарски кајманSerbian
- pantanalkajmanSwedish
- Кайман парагвайськийUkrainian
- 巴拉圭凱門鱷Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the yacare caiman
Other species in the same genus Caiman.
Spectacled caiman
Caiman crocodilus
Broad-snouted caiman
Caiman latirostris
CompareYacare caiman vs Spectacled caimanYacare caiman vs Broad-snouted caiman
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the yacare caiman?
The yacare caiman is a crocodilian reptile in the family Alligatoridae and the genus Caiman, within the order Crocodylia.
How heavy is a yacare caiman?
An adult Yacare caiman has a representative body mass of 12.21 kg, with reported values from 10.55 to 17 kg.
Is the yacare caiman endangered?
No. The IUCN lists the yacare caiman as Least Concern (LC), which is not a threatened category.
How long does a yacare caiman live?
The yacare caiman has a lifespan of 24.1 years, with values reported up to 60 years.
How many eggs does a yacare caiman lay?
The yacare caiman lays 25 eggs per clutch and one clutch per year. The eggs incubate for 81 days.
When does a yacare caiman reach sexual maturity?
The yacare caiman reaches sexual maturity at 6 years, with reported ages from 4 to 6.5 years.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/yacare-caiman
“Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/yacare-caiman.
@misc{yacare_caiman_2026,
title = {Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/yacare-caiman},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}