However, walking through the Tomás Garrido Canabal park in Villahermosa and taking a boat tour through the Cañón Del Sumidero, I saw at least 30 crocs in their natural habitat. It was such an exquisite and humbling sight to see the top of the food chain in its natural element.
Crocodiles have a range of habitats from Australia to the United States, but you can consistently find them in hot, swampy areas. In Mexico, the crocodiles mainly live in the states along the Gulf of Mexico.
Crocodiles are survivors, regardless of their environment. Their species has survived for over 55 million years. I have great respect for their resilience in thinking about how this creature has withstood the test of time and adapted to a wide variety of climates, from the swamps of Tabasco where the weather is hot all year round to the freezing winters of Louisiana. Its powerful anatomy and resilience has made it royalty of many ecosystems for millennia.
I was very respectful of the crocodile’s space. It has powerful jaws that lock onto its prey with an iron grip. Once its jaws clamp down, it rotates its body in the water to drown the prey and dismember it into more manageable pieces.
It can be jarring to see this creature on the shore while you are in a boat meters away, wondering what is below your feet, but barring a tragic boating accident, you should be out of harm's way.
