Difference Between Crocodile And Alligator And Gharial And Caiman. There are three different families of crocodilians. The distribution and their physical features are very important to distinguish them from each other.
In contrast the term crocodiles refers only to the true crocodiles. And the gavialidae which contains only the gharial so the first difference is that alligators and crocodiles are actually in different families. The snout of the crocodile is thinner.
Gharials are easily identifiable by their distinctly long and thin jaws.
They are wider for the alligator so it has a u shape along the bottom of it. This is the same type of look that a caiman has as well. The size of the caiman varies depending on its species from 2 2 meters 7 2 feet up to 5 meters 16 5 feet in length. And the gavialidae which contains only the gharial so the first difference is that alligators and crocodiles are actually in different families.