Did Europe have alligators?

Did Europe have alligators?

Alligator species have a range mostly in the Americas, while crocodile species have ranges in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Crocodiles are the most widespread crocodilian species. Antarctica and Europe are the only continents without native species of crocodile.

Are crocodiles native to Europe?

Crocodiles are the most widespread crocodilian species. Antarctica and Europe are the only continents without native species of crocodile.

Why are there no alligators in Europe?

Tragically, Europe has no natural crocodiles, outside of zoos at least – not because of primordial hunters but because the cooling planet caused a reptilian retreat to warmer climes, say scientists, following a massive review of data of climatic history and the entire known fossil record of crocodilians.

Where are crocs native to?

Crocodiles are large reptiles found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. They are members of the order Crocodilia, which also includes caimans, gharials and alligators.

Are there alligators or crocodiles in Spain?

They are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa but not native to Spain. Local police, a group of biologists and SEPRONA, a special nature unit of Spain’s Civil Guard, are patrolling the rivers and setting up lures in the hopes of capturing the animal.

When did crocodiles live in Europe?

African crocodiles lived in Spain six million years ago. Millions of years ago, several species of crocodiles of different genera and characteristics inhabited Europe and sometimes even coexisted.

Are there crocodiles in Germany?

Crocodiles are not native to Germany or to Europe. Emergency services have been searching for a live crocodile in the minor German river since Friday morning.

Did medieval castles have crocodiles?

Believe It! Today: Castle moats never contained crocodiles.

How did they dig moats?

A water-filled moat made the practice of mining – digging tunnels under the castles in order to effect a collapse of the defences – very difficult as well. Segmented moats have one dry section and one section filled with water. Dry moats that cut across the narrow part of a spur or peninsula are called neck ditches.

Does the Nile have crocodiles or alligators?

The Nile crocodile is Africa’s largest, and most widely distributed, crocodile. It can be found in Egypt in the North, through Central and East Africa, down to South Africa. The largest specimens and concentrations of these crocodiles are in the lakes and rivers of Central and East Africa.

Why are there no alligators in the moats of European castles?

Europe has no alligators. Consequently, there were not alligators in the moats of European castles. Or, indeed, of anybody’s castles. The idea of huge killer reptiles immediately surrounding Medieval fortifications is complete fiction. Even if they had been available (crocodiles, for example,…

Are there crocodiles or alligators in Europe?

No, we don’t have either crocodiles or alligators in Europe, except in zoos. And in the Middle Ages we didn’t have zoos, or castles with moats filled with crocodiles, alligators or indeed sharks or piranhas. The odd pike was about as scary as moats got.

Can moats be filled with crocodiles or alligators?

As for moats that were filled with water, while filling them with crocodiles or alligators wasn’t seemingly something anyone did, some savvy castle owners did fill them with fish giving them a nice private fishery.

Did anyone ever actually build a castle moat filled with crocodiles?

A common image in pop-culture is that of a castle moat filled to the brim with water and hungry crocodiles. So did anyone ever actually do this? The short answer is that it doesn’t appear so.