EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Alone among nonavian reptiles, crocodilians have developed a secondary palate that separates the passageway for air from the oral cavity. This combination of characters allows crocodilians to float with only the eyes and nostrils exposed.

Detailed explanation-2: -As members of such a long-surviving group, alligators and crocodiles have multiple adaptations in their skin, including flaps that make their eyes and ears watertight when diving and armored scales that protect the skin and avoid water loss.

Detailed explanation-3: -Crocodilians have a unique circulatory mechanism where the heart shunts blood from the lungs toward the stomach and other organs during long periods of submergence, for instance, while the animal waits for prey or stays underwater waiting for prey to rot.

Detailed explanation-4: -Like mammals and birds, crocodilians have a complete secondary palate, a slab of bone that separates the nasal passages from the mouth. This allows crocs to breathe with their mouths full.

Detailed explanation-5: -Crocodylia (Alligators, Caimans, Crocodiles, and Gharials) Crocodylians are archosaurs, the lineage that includes dinosaurs and birds as well as a number of other groups. Most crocodylians are large (at least 1 m in total length) and have bony plates in the skin.