The Toasted Caiman, also known as the Lesser Black Caiman, is found in the rivers of South America. Its range is from Surinam to Peru, with the main concentration in the 880,000 square kilometre Orinoco Basin on the borders of Colombia and Venezuela.

This caiman grows to a length of around five metres and is jet black from birth. Like all other alligators, the Toasted Caiman is mainly a carnivore, eating anything that enters the water. It does also eat other food such as fruit, when it’s nursing an injured jaw. This animal is unusual because it always attacks prey from underneath rather than head on.