Age shall not weary them: long-term data on reproduction and movement of known-age Pantanal caimans in Brazil.

We recaptured 26 female and 24 male Pantanal Caimans (Caiman yacare) with known ages up to 36 years after marking. Only scute removal allowed long-term monitoring of the caimans. The relationship between clutch size and age for known-age females showed large scatter, and one female captured multiple times between 18 and 26 years old showed little variation in clutch size. Females were found attending nests at snout-vent lengths from 73 cm and from 9 years old, but they continued to grow long after, so growth cessation does not appear to be related to reproduction. Most known-age animals were recaptured within 10 km of where they hatched, but usually on a different ranch, so ranches cannot be used as autonomous management units.