Saltwater Crocodiles

[Outdated]

Also known as Estuarine Crocodiles, these are the largest and most dangerous reptiles on the planet.

 

[Judge]

In as much as dangerous humans have always fascinated me, so does the equivalent in the natural world. Especially Australia, with a plethora of deadly critters.

 

[Aspychata]

Wow, that's just crazy huge. I drive thru a beautiful area weekly, and a huge 10ft gator was just casually sunning itself one day by a huge pond. Next day, l see golfers casually playing golf right next to this same area.

 

[Outdated]

Wow, that's just crazy huge. I drive thru a beautiful area weekly, and a huge 10ft gator was just casually sunning itself one day by a huge pond. Next day, l see golfers casually playing golf right next to this same area.

Crocs are a little different, twice the length of a 'gator and three times the weight. Crocs also see humans as food, where as alligators don't. If we see one near suburbs we instantly call parks and wildlife to come and relocate it.

Many years ago my brother was driving his 11 year old daughter home from scouts and he ran over a 4 metre croc, he said when you come face to face with a croc that size nothing evens up the odds like three and a half ton of toyota. His daughter got upset because he wouldn't go back to see if it was alright.

 

[Outdated]

Many of you of course will remember the famous Steve Irwin. I was living in Darwin in the 90s when his Crocodile Hunter series was aired on TV for the first time, it got pulled half way through the first episode and the entire series was completely and permanently banned in the Northern Territory.

Why? Because it's perfectly natural that kids will watch him and then go outside to play at being a crocodile hunter. The problem in Darwin is that the kids will find crocs in all the local creeks, not a smart idea.

 

[arithmetic]

They weigh half a ton.
They get up on their hind legs and run at you. They can get up to 40km/hr in a second. You do not stand a chance.
They can get up on those same hind legs and walk around almost like a human being, too, standing a couple of meters tall and with jaws a half a meter wide. They climb slopes alongside watercourses and get well away from estuaries.
Australian crocodiles are called apex predators for good reason

 

[Outdated]

During the wet season they can travel great distances overland and don't necessarily have to be in water.

And if you climb a tree to get away from one make sure you climb high because the buggers can jump too.

 

[Outdated]

Darwin relocates between 250 and 300 crocs a year just from the Darwin harbour and estuaries region. They only relocate animals they consider to be dangerous - over 3 metres in length and somewhere likely to have human traffic.

JWM: Problem crocs in Darwin, Australia come from far and wide

 

[Shamar]

The one Australian critter I do NOT regret not meeting personally.

 

[AuAL]

Closest I’ve been to a croc in the wild. He’s about 5 metres long, sunning on a mudflat near Weipa. The photo was taken on my iPhone - no telephoto lens. Our boat nudged aground on the mudflat - you better believe I stayed in the boat.