Crocodiles
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
The crocodile is a prehistoric reptile that has survived for
200 million years through several ice ages and has seen the dinosaur
come and go. By 1971 crocodiles were hunted close to exctinction
for their skins and their numbers had dwindled to about 3000 but
nowadays they are protected and the croc population now believed
to exceed 75,000. Ironically enough their protection was not a
result of environmental awareness but people were being worried
the might disappear as a resource. Nowadays there is no danger
of extinction as their numbers have increased dramatically to
the point where many people are calling for them to be culled
to get the numbers down as they now often stray into territory
close to people. In 2003 Territory Parks and Wildlife officers
caught 180 crocodiles ranging from 2.5 to 4 metre in the 19 traps
they manage around Darwin harbour.
Although crocodiles are protected 600 are killed annually in the
territory by licensed hunters for their skins and in March 2004
a delegation of Aborigines, politicians and tourism experts from
the Northern Territory headed to Canberra to argue the case for
Australia to re-introduce big-game safaris targeting the deadly
saltwater crocodile, if succcesful this would see 25 of the area's
largest "trophy" crocs hunted every year.
Nowadays there is a thriving crocodile industry, they are farmed
very successfully in farms that maintain small breeding populations,
and raise the hatchlings until they reach around a meter in length.
The main products of crocodile farms are leather and meat.
The reputation of the appetite of crocodiles was received a bit
of a dent when early March 2004 the bodies of two prostitutes
were found in the Adelaide River near Darwin. They had been thrown
off a bridge alive but had drowned and their intact bodies were
found by a boatload of croc-spotting tourists 30 hours later.
Currently there is a 4.2 metre long croc named "Sputnik"
cruising around the Northern Territory that has a satellite tracking
device on his head, you can watch his latest location on the website
www.croctrack.org.nz
Scientists are also trying to work out how crocodiles survive their
injuries. In territorial disputes they often end up with horrific
injuries ranging from bites and deep gashes to entire limbs ripped
off, but their bodies usually heal themselves without infections.
In August 2005 scientists took blood from 50 Northern Territory
crocodiles to work out how it fights infections, even those resistant
to known antibiotics.
Some people like Mick Pitman, around the remote wilderness
of the Cape York peninsula better known as Crocodile Mick, have
made a career out of crocodiles. He makes a living as crocodile
hunter, taxidermist and producer of crocodile products, and also
specializes in crocodile capture.You can see more photos like above
and read some wild adventures, on his website crocodilemickpitman.com
.
Salt water crocodiles
Photos shot on the Daintree River in north Queensland,
courtesy of solarwhisper.com
Saltwater crocodiles live around the northern parts of the country,
roughly north of Mackay, in waterways where, despite being called
a 'salty' , they can travel hundreds of kilometres inland but they
are also known to travel through the ocean and have been spotted
a long way offshore. Fortunately they do not attack people in the
ocean, only in inland waterways so it is still safe to swim in the
ocean ( as long as it is not stinger season). There is not many
incidences of anyone having been eaten by a croc while swimming
in the ocean.
They have perfected their hunting techniques for millions of years
and can swim under water at 30 km/h withhout a ripple on the surface
and then burst out and on a short distance can outrun a horse. If
a prey puts up too much resistance they will do the "death
roll" to get it off its feet. They even jump out of the water
to catch low flying birds and, as you can see on the "jumping
crocodile tours" in the Northern Territory raise themselves
out of the water and "stand" on their tail for a few seconds
to grab a piece of meat.
Photo by Nancy Hagoort
Many crocodiles are large enough to catch and kill animals as
big as cows, horses and water buffaloes, females can grow up to
4 meters in length, males can reach 7 meters in length and weigh
over 1,000kg. On average
one person a year in Australia is killed, usually by ignoring
some of the common sense safety rules.
Crocodiles are confirmed to have swum through city streets in Cairns
at a king tide and in Katherine during the big flood in 1998.
Salties breed in the wet season (November-March). Males occupy large
territories, even swimming through the ocean between rivers to breed
with more females. Females will lay up to 50 eggs in a large pile
of vegetation, sand and soil, usually on the banks of a river, swamp
or estuary. They will hang around the nest to guard it during the
three-month incubation period, and can be quite aggressive; (should
you come across a big pile of vegeation on a riverbank in your explorations
of Australia then get the f#%! out of there real quick).
The best time to see crocodiles when you go on a boat cruise is
in the dry season (winter) when the water is cold and the cold blooded
reptiles come out of the water to absorb heat from sunshine.
In Darwin the Territory Insurance Office offers crocodile insurance
which you can take out to top up your normal travel insurance.
One of the most famous crocodiles in Australia's history is Sweetheart.
Between September 1978 and July 1979 there was a string of attacks
on small aluminium fishing boats in the Finniss River, Northern
Territory when a 5.1 metre male crocodile got into the ( for crocs
unusual) habit of biting outboard motors and attacking and overturning
boats. More...
Legend has it that in the Normanton river, several kilometres from
the town of Normanton, NW Queensland, there was a ginormous croc.
Krystina Pawloski, a woman of small build but handy with the gun,
shot a crocodile measuring around nine metres in the Norman River
in July 1958. There is an awesome replica in the main street of
Normanton which the locals swear is true to size, reportedly the
actual skin was used for this statue as a 'mould' to make sure of
correct size and proportions, the skin is still kept in Townsville,
north Queensland.
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
Freshwater crocodiles
The freshwater crocodile, (officially Johnstone’s Crocodile
but usually referred to as 'freshie') lives in inland freshwater
areas of Australia's northern parts and sometimes in the tidal parts
of rivers. Their range does overlap with saltwater crocodiles, and
they can be found in the same locality and often become dinner for
the "salties'.
Male freshwater crocodiles grow up to 3 meters in length, females
are smaller up to 2 meters. They eat all the smaller animals you
find near in and rivers; insects, fish, frogs, turtles, waterbirds
and snakes. Small mammals that drink at rivers are also taken. People
are not on the menu as the crocs are too small but the occasional
person has been bitten by a freshie if they scared them jumping
on them while swimming or a woman that floated on top of one on
an air mattress in Edith Falls in the Northern Territory. In the
Northern Territory people swim in waterholes and waterfalls where
you can actually see the freshwater crocodiles swimming around so
if you want to brag to your friends back home you have swum with
crocodiles in Australia then this is the place to go.
They breed during the months of July and August in the dry season.
Females will dig a hole in a sandy riverbank and lay up to a dozen
eggs that will hatch in two to three months. The timing of hatching
is the start of the wet season when food for the young (mostly insects)
is abundant. The gender of the young is determined by the incubation
temperature, high incubation temperature produce females, low temperatures
produce males.
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