Crocodile!

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No animal is half as vile
As Crocky-Wock, the crocodile.
On Saturdays he likes to crunch
Six juicy children for his lunch
Roald Dahl

The Australian Saltwater crocodile is an impressive beastie - believe me, I’ve seen one. It was patrolling the shallow waters of a deserted beach off Cape Grenville in Far North Queensland. I was standing on dry land at the time, but my next meal, my bed and my transport north, all lay a 5 minute dinghy ride away and the crocodile was definitely bigger than the dinghy. With just a swish of its tail as it swam at the surface, it was abundantly clear that the crocodile was king.

So what makes the “Saltie”, as it is affectionately known by the locals, a creature to treat with awe and a healthy portion of respect? Let me start with the mouth, which is lined by an impressive array of about 60 teeth, set in a jaw powerful enough to pull a friendly Friesian cow (if it ever came across one) off the river bank and into the water for a fatal roll in the depths. Then there is the long scaly body, which in large males can reach 6m in length and weigh 1000kg. So in short, if you had the misfortune of meeting one in the wild, it would be like facing off against a ferocious VW Beetle.

Crocs patrol the swamps, estuaries and coastal seas of northern Australia and sit firmly at the top of the food chain, eating just about anything they encounter, including every once in a blue moon, a human. There are however some easy precautions you can take to watch crocodiles rather than run from crocodiles. Primarily this involves staying out of the water…totally out of the water: these powerful creatures can travel at up to 18mph over short intervals and are capable of shooting up out of the water to capture prey loitering unawares on a beach or river bank.

A rather unusual feature of the crocodile is its dependence on ground temperature for determining the sex of its offspring. The crocodile lays its eggs in small hills of mud and twigs and the temperature of the nest controls if the hatchlings come out as male or female crocs. Just imagine … if the same was true for humans, the temperature of your parent’s house in the nine months before you were born would determine if you were a boy or a girl!

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