A picture of one of the biggest crocodiles we have ever seen - taken in South
Africa. You can get an idea of the size of the crocodile from the woman nestling under his forearm.
The biggest ever crocodile is a tricky call. The Guinness book of records
list 'Yai' a hybrid crocodile from Thailand at 20ft. However, there are
claims for crocodiles of over 30ft. What is indisputable is that the
largest species of crocodile is Crocodylus porosus which lives in estuaries.
Because this species of crocodile occurs all over the world, there are claims
from Indonesia, Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia.
At times nature can be cruel, but there is also a raw beauty, and even a
certain justice manifested within that cruelty. Special report by
Freddi Schneider.
The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, normally
considered the "apex predator", can still fall victim to implemented 'team
work' strategy, made possible due to the tight knit social structure and
"survival of the pack mentality" bred into the canines.
See the remarkable photograph below courtesy of Nature Magazine. Note
that the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold on the gator preventing it from
breathing, while another dog has a hold on the tail to keep it from
thrashing. The third dog attacks the soft underbelly of the gator.
Alli
Shedden, from Siquirres in Costa Rica, found the crocodile, which had a bullet in its head, in a swamp.
He took the injured animal home, named it Poncho and nursed it back to health, reports Las Ultimas Noticias. It
took him four years to heal the 58-stone crocodile - by which time he says his wife had accepted it. See the funny crocodile picture below.
Mr Shedden told Las Ultimas Noticias, 'The crocodile has never done anything to harm me, he knows who I am, it is
as if it is a dog, it eats off my hands.
'When Poncho arrived I was unemployed and now people pay to see me playing with my pet, I want to put together a show, so I can show the world our friendship.'
A group of crocodiles is called a congregation. In Will and Guy's
opinion, a more descriptive collective noun for crocodiles is a 'float' of
crocodiles.
Unusually, the gender of crocodiles is determined by temperature.
If the eggs are incubated tat over 33oc,
then the egg hatches into a male or 'bull' crocodile. At lower
temperatures only female or 'cow' crocodiles develop.
When the baby crocodiles are ready to hatch they start crying.
This triggers their mother to frantically dig them out of their sandy
birth-chamber. At this point, if you are lucky, you will see the
mother carry the baby gently in her mouth and take it to water.
Crocodiles and Alligators can live for at least 50 years. There
are claims for much older specimen, but as these are not friendly animals,
it's got to be hard to prove some of the claims for those reaching 100 yrs
old.
The crocodile's strategy of hanging around rivers and waiting for a
tasty snack has stood the test of hundreds of millions of years.
Powerful jaws, full of razor sharp teeth are just the combination to kill
unsuspecting animals who come down to the river to drink.
Did you know that a crocodile cannot stick its tongue out?
Being reptiles, crocodiles are cold blooded, however they are masters at
controlling their temperature by cooling off in water, or sun-bathing on the
river banks - depending on the weather.
Alligators and crocodiles have a unique haemoglobin, which allows them
to store more oxygen. The benefit is they can stay underwater without
breathing for long periods of time.
The phrase 'soft belly' could have been coined with the crocodile in
mind. There is such a huge contrast between it's upper 'dorsal' side,
which is bullet-proof, and it's lower 'ventral' side which is as soft as a
puff-ball.
Eight times a year a congregation of crocodiles gathers in on the Mary
river to the east of Darwin Australia. Instinct tells them that at
these unusually high tides means masses of fish are going to leap over the
barrier as the tide comes in. On one occasion David Attenborough showed up
and filmed about 60 crocodiles feasting on the fish as they tried to leap
over the barrier. See
more crocodile pictures and interesting facts.
If you count the alligators and the caiman, there are 23 species of crocodile
in the world today. While they can crawl on their bellies, or even walk like
mammals, crocodiles are most at home in the water, as you can see from our funny
crocodile pictures.
Differences between Crocodiles and Alligators
Crocodiles more pointed 'V-shaped noses, whereas alligators have a wide
U-shaped, snout. If you see a an olive brown body wriggling in a tropical
river it's more likely to be a
crocodile. By comparison, alligators are darker and may appear almost black.
Will and Guy think that the teeth are the biggest clue in the croc -v- gator
debate. In crocodiles, the lower 4th tooth
looks like a peg and juts into the upper jaw. Alligators have a smaller
lower jaw, thus when they close their mouth you don't see much of the lower
teeth in general, and the 4th 'peg' in particular.
Crocodile Theft
♪
One of the strangest thefts occurred in Darwin, Australia. Police were
searching for thieves who stole 18 saltwater crocodiles. The thieves broke into
an enclosure at a crocodile farm and took 18 baby reptiles. The little
crocs were less than 40cm (15 inches) long, amazingly they could be worth as
much as $1,000 each on the black market.
"They have obviously found a way to get in and remove 18 crocodiles from the
farm. Eighteen crocs of that size could fit in a tub and be moved reasonably
easily," police spokesman Matt Crichton told Australian Associated Press.
One motive maybe growing them for their crocodile skins which can be exported to
Japan or Singapore, where they can be made into boots, handbags and belts.
Many car drivers are happy to transport their pets by car; dogs are
commonplace as passengers all over the world. Recently, however, Will and Guy
have established from 'The Facts' newspaper in Brazoria, Texas, USA that police
who stopped a Buick car for carrying out an illegal u-turn received a surprise
when they found that the driver was, in fact, a felon wanted for burglary.
What surprised the police even more was the fearsome reptile roaming free in
the car: a live alligator some six feet long. They took this photograph of the
alligator, at rest, on the rear window ledge.
Apparently the alligator was 'happy and content' and did not make any fuss
when he was arrested and taken to a local nature reserve and set free.
Please send us any funny crocodile pictures that you may have.
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Crocodile Natural History
