Spectacled Caiman

Spectacled Caiman
メガネカイマン
Character Data
AKA		White caiman, common caiman
Romaji		Megane kaiman
Debut		Kemono Friends (2015 Game)
Animal Data
Scientific Name		Caiman crocodilus
Distribution		Central and South America
Diet		Carnivore
Avg. Lifespan		30-40 years
Read More		Spectacled caiman
Conservation

Spectacled Caiman

Season 2

Pavilion

KF3

Nexon Game

Gallery

Spectacled Caiman is a crocodilian Friend that appeared in the original Kemono Friends mobile game.

Appearance

Spectacled Caiman has pale light-green hair which fades into a paler whitish-green at its ends. She wears it tied into two large braids with dark green tasks along them, and two ridge-like bunches- evoking the eye ridges of a caiman- atop of her head, near the braid's bases. Her bangs have notable volume, and are gently side-swept to her left. She sports a thin red ribbon which may provide the structure for her aforementioned hair styles; it is tied into a small bow which sits between her ridges. Her eyes are a muddy green color, featuring the vertical pupils often found in reptile Friends, and she dons a pair of oval browline glasses with off-black frames- her signature spectacles.

Spectacled Caiman's outermost top layer is a green vest with a high or popped collar. The vest has a shingled texture and false studs, giving the appearance of crocodilian skin; it also sports horizontal dark green stripes and tasks down the front. She wears the vest unzipped to about halfway, and has the upper part splayed out like a lapel, which also has a shingled texture. Although no undershirt can be observed where the vest is unzipped- rather, the middle of her chest is exposed- the sleeves of a pale green shirt with black stripes on its cuffs can be seen on her shoulders, and do not seem to be connected to the vest. It may be that she is wearing an athletic shirt, as her old design did, but with its zipper down or possessing an egregiously long-cut V-neck. She wears grey shorts with tattered hems, and mid-thigh-length black compression shorts underneath those. In the back, she has a large pale-green caiman tail with square scales, two rows of spiky ridges, and dark green bands; the underside is whitish-green, akin to that found in her hair.

She wears a matching pair of green leather, or faux leather, gloves and boots; both pairs of accessories sport a scale pattern and silver spikes. Her gloves are fingerless, with an overlapping natural scale pattern on their backs as well as a silver spike on each knuckle; the palms of the gloves are the recurring pale whitish-green. The boots run about halfway up her calves, featuring dark green belts near their tops and a non-overlapping, geometric scale pattern around the mid-section, with asymmetrical green tasks. Each boot bears a metallic band running perpendicular across the middle of the boot's foot- called the vamp- and four silver spikes protrude from each band. This metallic material also forms the outsoles and bottoms of the boots.

Spectacled Caiman's old design had much shorter hair of a more vibrant green. She wore it in two pigtails to the lower back of her head, tied by brown hairbands, and at least two dark green side braids accenting the style; additionally, her face was framed by short lengths of yellow-highlighted hair. Her bangs were side-swept to her left, but had less volume. The eyes of the previous design were bright yellow, and her glasses were round with orange-red frames.

She wore a pale green athletic shirt with a brown popped collar; she also had brown stripes running along her shoulders and running down her sides, and towards her midsection. She sported marshy-green fingerless leather gloves, somewhat akin to biking gloves, with bracelets around her wrists each featuring five silver spikes. She wore compression shorts of the same marshy-green, with black stripes running down the sides, as well as similarly green boots with a scale texture across the shoe and belts of the same color. Her tail was a much deeper color than the pale green of her new design, and its scales were more geometric and pronounced but less present overall, being visible only on the top side.

Series Appearances

Appearances In Kemono Friends Media

Media		Role

In Real Life

Caiman crocodilus pair

The spectacled caiman is a medium-sized caiman measuring approximately 1.80 m in length. The maximum known size for the species is 2.65 m. Females are smaller than males with an average size of 1.4 m. A few female individuals can sometimes reach 2 m. The cayman with glasses is so named because of the bone crest located between his eyes, making think of glasses. In addition to the bony crest between the eyes, the cayman with glasses also has a triangular crest on the top of the eye, and like other members of the alligator family, the muzzle is broad and rounded. The belly skin of this caiman is not very popular for tanning and leather goods activities. Indeed, it is covered with very developed bone plates.

The caiman with glasses easily adapts to virtually all the wetlands of its range. However, it prefers areas of stagnant water such as lakes, ponds, marshes and dead riverbanks. This reptile can tolerate a certain degree of salinity of water. If the environmental conditions are too severe, they will sink into the mud and hibernate. The vast floodplain of the Pantanal provides ideal habitat for caiman during the rainy season.

Like all crocodilians, the Spectacled Caiman is a predator perfectly adapted to the aquatic life. Young Caimans feed mainly on invertebrates such as snails, insects and crustaceans. As they grow, the variety of prey diversifies. If they hunt less insects, they feed on fish, amphibians, reptiles and waterfowl. Larger specimens can also attack mammals such as deer. In dry weather, when food is scarce, adults can then tackle small caimans. During the caiman nesting period, the tegu can destroy up to 80% of the caiman nests in some places. The coatis and the foxes can also loot the nests. Juveniles are the prey of large fish, waders, large snakes and crocodiles. Adults are able to defend themselves against most of these predators other than humans.

Although usually lonely, the spectacular caiman can sometimes be seen in groups. He remains on the same territory and remains motionless almost all day. In the mid-day heat, he stays in the water and basks on the mainland from morning until early afternoon. The caiman with glasses usually feeds at night. During the breeding season, it becomes territorial and aggressive. In the groups, the social rank is determined by the size of the individuals, the largest dominating the smaller ones. Animals with the highest social status are more likely to mate than others. The spectacular caiman uses taste, touch, sound and visual senses for social and reproductive communication. The ability to detect vibrations in water can help in the detection of prey.

Trivia

Caiman crocodilus

• Spectacled caimans are able to change the color of the skin and become dark-colored during the cold period of the year.

References

• "Caïman à lunettes (Caiman crocodilus)". manimalworld.