caiman
part of speech
noun (a caiman, caimans)
meaning for a pupil
1) A caiman is a reptile of the alligator family that lives in the rivers, lakes and swamps of Central and South America. tree →
2) Caimans have long jaws, tough scaly skin and are usually smaller than alligators and crocodiles, although the black caiman can grow very large. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and geography lessons caimans come up in Amazon rainforest and wetland habitats and food chains: they eat fish, birds and small mammals, and are hunted by jaguars and anacondas. Pupils compare crocodiles, alligators and caimans: caimans have a bony ridge between their eyes, like the frame of glasses (the spectacled caiman).
examples
- A caiman floated in the river with only its eyes showing. tree →
- Caimans live in South America. tree →
- The jaguar caught a caiman on the riverbank. tree →
- The spectacled caiman has a ridge between its eyes like glasses. tree →
- A caiman is a relative of the alligator. tree →
- Caimans lay their eggs in nests of leaves. tree →
- The black caiman is the biggest caiman. tree →
note
Plural «caimans». Also spelt «cayman», as in the Cayman Islands. Say «KAY-mun». Crocodiles, alligators and caimans are related but different reptiles.
In the corpora
- Caimans and crocodiles bask with their mouths open to let heat escape and cool down; it is not a threat or a yawn.
- The jaguar has the strongest bite for its size of any big cat and can crack turtle shells and caiman skulls.
- The black caiman is the biggest predator of the Amazon, over four metres long, and hunts fish and capybaras at night.
- When hunters killed most black caimans, piranhas grew in number, because caimans had been eating them.
- Caimans rarely attack big grown capybaras, which are too big and alert, and the two often share river banks.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «caiman» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.