A rare member of the crocodile family “nipped” a zookeeper at the Bronx Zoo on Sunday, according to the zoo.
Police said that the unidentified 38-year-old animal worker was cleaning the enclosure in the Reptile House around 2:30 p.m. when he slipped and the small fish-eating Tomistoma, also known as a Sunda gharial, snapped at him.
The worker was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was treated and released, according to the NYPD.
“The keeper was treated at a local hospital and released for a minor wound which did not need stitches,” Mary Dixon, a spokeswoman for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the zoo, said in a statement.
The Tomistoma, an endangered member of the crocodilian order, lives primarily in Southeast Asian countries, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo website. It has a long, narrow snout and primarily eats fish.