--- title: Nile Crocodiles Identified in Florida description: Five Nile Crocodiles, members of a species native to Sub-Saharan Africa, have been found in Florida canonical: https://time.com/4346657/nile-crocodiles-found-in-florida/ author: Joey Lautrup article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-24T18:17:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:48:21.397Z article:section: Science og:title: Nile Crocodiles Found in Florida og:description: The animals made it to Florida from Sub-Saharan Africa og:url: https://time.com/4346657/nile-crocodiles-found-in-florida/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d0a5bb33bedf3b2/698894abe20a87da4fa90f7c/brightcove.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Brightcove og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nile Crocodiles Found in Florida twitter:description: The animals made it to Florida from Sub-Saharan Africa twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d0a5bb33bedf3b2/698894abe20a87da4fa90f7c/brightcove.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nile Crocodiles Found in Florida  by [Joey Lautrup](https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/)  ## Joey Lautrup May 24, 2016 6:17 PM UTC   by [Joey Lautrup](https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/)  ## Joey Lautrup May 24, 2016 6:17 PM UTC Five Nile Crocodiles, members of a species native to Sub-Saharan Africa, have been found in Florida. According to [the study](http://www.herpconbio.org/Volume%5F11/Issue%5F1/Rochford%5Fetal%5F2016.pdf?version=meter+at+1&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click) that identified the crocodiles, the invasive species likely traveled to the United States from South Africa. “There are both economic risks and risks to human health and safety presented by establishment of Nile Crocodiles in Florida,” the study reported. Nile Crocodiles are the second-largest reptiles in the world, and the species was responsible for at least 493 attacks on people in its native range from 2010 to 2014. Authors of the study said that there are no signs of the crocodiles reproducing since arriving in Florida. Nile Crocodiles Identified in Florida ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4346657/nile-crocodiles-found-in-florida/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4346657/nile-crocodiles-found-in-florida/"},"headline":"Nile Crocodiles Found in Florida","datePublished":"2016-05-24T18:17:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:48:21.397Z","description":"The reptiles have been known to attack humans","url":"https://time.com/4346657/nile-crocodiles-found-in-florida/","keywords":["animals","Environment","Africa","Florida","nature"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d0a5bb33bedf3b2/698894abe20a87da4fa90f7c/brightcove.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joey Lautrup","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d0a5bb33bedf3b2/698894abe20a87da4fa90f7c/brightcove.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Brightcove","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4346657/nile-crocodiles-found-in-florida/","name":"Nile Crocodiles Found in Florida"}}]}] ```