The Mugger crocodile has the broadest snout among living crocodiles. It has a powerful tail and webbed feet. Its visual, hearing, and smelling senses are acute. Hatchlings are pale olive with black spots. Adults are dark olive to grey or brown. The head is rough without any ridges and has large scutes around the neck that are well separated from the back. Scutes usually form 4, rarely 6 longitudinal series and 16 or 17 transverse series. The limbs have keeled scales with serrated fringes on the outer edges, and the outer toes are extensively webbed.
The mugger crocodile occurs in the Indian subcontinent as well as surrounding countries: Sri Lanka in the east, Iran in the west, and also Pakistan and Nepal. This species is found in freshwater lakes, marshes, and ponds, and has also adapted well to reservoirs, human-made ponds, irrigation canals, and coastal saltwater lagoons. This crocodile likes shallow water no more than 5 m deep, and it avoids fast-flowing rivers. It will sometimes bury itself in the mud to avoid the searing heat in India in the dry season.
