"You wouldn't want to handle one of these things when it is 10ft long," he said at the croc's public debut in Tropical World.

It is one of three little crocodiles which have been gifted to the Roundhay attraction by Cotswold Wildlife Park.

They have been here a few weeks acclimatising to their glass cage in the aquarium area. Now they are ready to be seen by the public.

"I came with my son Ptolemy, three, to have a preview a few weeks ago," said Coun Procter. "He stroked the crocodiles and was amazed."

Coun Procter himself held one of the creatures which are two-years-old and 2ft long.

"It was very docile but I counted my fingers afterwards," he said. "There are actually more dangerous things in the Civic Hall!"

Over the next two years, the Morelets will grow to about 4ft long and will become stockier and as they grow to full size they will be moved to the pond in the South American House.

"We can control the rate at which they grow by careful feeding," said head keeper Steve Dickie, who has worked with dwarf crocs and cayman at other visitor attractions.

"We don't want them to grow big too quickly. We will train them to know when it's feeding time by using a target (such as a stick) and associated noises.

"In this way, the keeper can walk among them quite safely even when they are big," said Steve. "They are only interested in the target and I have seen keepers lifting the animals' tails and legs without complaint."

The crocs will spend many hours basking in the heat of their enclosure (30C), but visitors will see them swimming from time to time.

Steve hopes to organise fixed feeding times so visitors can watch the animals at their most active.

The Morelet's crocodile is found only in the fresh waters of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala and is actually an endangered species.

It was discovered in Mexico in 1850 and was named after a French naturalist.

At Roundhay the Morelets will be fed insects, sprats, de-frosted mice and later rats, rabbit and chicken.