In 2014, DNA testing revealed that two crocodiles residing at Copenhagen Zoo for 32 years were actually West African crocodiles (Crocodylus suchus), not Nile crocodiles as previously believed. This discovery was prompted by similar findings at Zurich Zoo, leading Copenhagen Zoo's curator, Flemming Nielsen, to investigate their own specimens.

The zoo had long noted that these crocodiles were smaller and more docile than typical Nile crocodiles, characteristics aligning with the West African species.

Copenhagen Zoo is among the few European institutions housing breeding pairs of West African crocodiles, contributing to the conservation of this species.