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Mugger Crocodile Behaviour Shifted With Season and Time of Day in Wilpattu

Wild mugger crocodile basking with its mouth open on a fallen tree in Wilpattu National Park
Research · Behaviour

A study reported in a 2026 conference abstract from Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka found that the behaviour of wild mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) changed with both season and time of day. Researchers surveyed crocodiles from September 2024 to August 2025, covering wet and dry seasons.

The team recorded 231 crocodile sightings: 150 in the wet season and 81 in the dry season. They classified eight behaviours — basking, feeding, floating, gaping, high walking, resting on land, submerging and swimming — and compared their frequency between morning, midday and evening and between seasons.

Floating was the most frequently recorded behaviour, accounting for 24.9% of observations, followed by swimming at 22.3% and basking at 21.4%. Resting on land accounted for 13.1%, gaping 9.2%, submerging 5.2%, high walking 3.1% and feeding 0.87%.

Behaviour varied across the day and between the wet and dry seasons, with the daily pattern also changing between seasons. The study reports these overall differences but does not break them down by behaviour, so it is not possible to say which specific activities increased or decreased at particular times of day or in either season. The authors link the overall shifts to changing environmental conditions and the thermoregulatory needs of crocodiles.

Sources and image credit

  1. Gunathilaka, W. D. C. N., Rodrigo, B. K. P. D., Jayasekara, E. G. D. P., & Mahaulpatha, W. A. D. (2026). Seasonal and Daily Variations of Mugger Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) Behaviors in Wilpattu National Park. Proceedings of the 30th International Forestry and Environment Symposium, 30, 141. https://doi.org/10.31357/fesympo.v30.8932

Image: Shaluka Herath / Wikimedia Commons — wild mugger crocodile basking with its mouth open on a semi-submerged tree in Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka, 20 November 2025; the image shows basking and gaping, two behaviours analysed in the study. Cropped to 16:9; representative photograph, not a study observation. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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