Osteolaemus osborni is a small crocodile of Congo basin swamp forest. Genetic work in the 2000s and 2010s showed that what had been called the dwarf crocodile comprised several deeply divergent lineages, and the Congo form, described in 1919, is now generally recognised as a separate species.
The main pressure on it is the bushmeat trade. Unlike the crocodilians targeted by the hide industry, dwarf crocodiles are hunted for food, and because they are small and survive long without water, they are transported and sold alive with jaws and limbs bound. Market surveys in Central African cities regularly record them, and hunters take them from burrows and shallow streams at night.
Quantifying the offtake is difficult. Trade is largely informal, species-level identification in markets is inconsistent, and the recent taxonomic split means older records cannot be reliably assigned. The species has not been separately assessed by the IUCN, so its status is effectively unmeasured.