The American Crocodiles in Florida Are Turning Into Something Bigger — And Nobody Knows Why

In the 1970s, only a few hundred American crocodiles were left in Florida, pushed to the brink by hunting and coastal development. Fifty years after federal protection, the population has more than recovered, but biologists keep finding animals that are larger and farther north than the species' recovery plan ever predicted. From an unlikely stronghold at a nuclear power plant's cooling canals to backyard waterways where no crocodile had been seen before, the evidence points to a story more complicated than a simple conservation comeback. The biggest open question is whether we ever knew how large this animal could really get.