 The Guelta d'Archei is inhabited by several kinds of animals, most notably the West African crocodile ("Crocodylus suchus"; until recently thought to be a synonym for the Nile crocodile, "Crocodylus niloticus" Laurenti).Middle Holocene remains, as well as rock paintings, indicate that this species once thrived across most of today's Sahara Desert and in swamps and rivers along South Mediterranean shores.The small group of surviving crocodiles in the Guelta d'Archei represents one of the last colonies known in the Sahara today; the Tagant Plateau colony in Mauritania has likely been extinct since 1996.