Meat-hungry Crocodiles and Alligators Eat Fruit, Too

Crocodiles and alligators have a reputation for being vicious carnivores -- and indeed they are -- but new research shows that the reptiles have a taste for fruit, too.

The American alligator and a dozen other species of crocodile occasionally eat fruit to supplement their otherwise meaty diet of mammals birds and fish, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

In addition to being an unexpected dietary discovery, the researchers also report that the find could lead to further evidence that crocodilians -- some of which have large territories -- may play a role in forest regeneration through digesting and passing fruit seeds.

"Although underreported, fruit eating appears widespread among crocodilians," said the study's lead author, Steven Platt of the WCS. "Given the biomass of crocodiles in many subtropical and tropical wetlands and their capacity for ingesting large numbers of fruits, we consider it likely that crocodilians function as significant seed dispersal agents in many freshwater ecosystems."

There are at least two dozen species considered to be of the order crocodilia. Of the 18 species the researchers examined, 13 were documented eating some combination of berries, nuts, grains or legumes, the WCS reports.

Some of the fruit ingestion is incidental to the capture of larger prey, but the researchers report evidence showing instances where fruit is consumed deliberately in large quantities.

"Much remains to be learned about how crocodilians process carbohydrates and other plant-based nutrients, though studies suggests that fruit eating is likely to yield nutritional rewards for crocodilians," the WCS wrote in a statement.

Platt and his colleagues study appears in the Journal of Zoology.