There
are some interesting Australian
crocodile facts.
Crocodiles are some of the Animal Kingdom's supreme survivors, with an
evolutionary history of longer than 200 million years – well back into
the age of dinosaurs.
Australian crocodiles belong to the genus Crocodylus,
while the smaller American alligators are members of genus Alligatoridae.
Here is some information about the two types of crocodiles in Australia
- the smaller freshwater crocodiles and the huge and deadly Australian
saltwater crocodile - the world's largest crocodile!
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Australian Crocodile Facts - Freshwater Crocodiles
There are two species of crocodiles in Australia. The smaller,
Freshwater
Crocodile, also called Johnstone’s Crocodile (Crocodylus
johnstoni)
is 2-3 metres long, and it can be distinguished from the larger salt
water crocodile by its slender snout. Freshwater crocodiles eat fish,
crustaceans, insects, smaller reptiles, amphibians, rats, bats and
birds. They are found in northern Australia between Cape York Peninsula
in the east and Broome
in the west, and as opposed to the saltwater crocodiles, they can be
found
way into the inland: they live in freshwater rivers and lakes in the
whole Kimberley
region in Western Australia, the Top End
of Northern Territory, and in the inland of northern Queensland.
The good news is that freshwater crocodiles are not dangerous to
humans, although it is not recommended to go swimming with them.
Swimmers have been injured, but humans are too large to be their prey
and fresh water crocodiles would not attempt to kill us for food.
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Australian Crocodile Facts - Freshwater Crocodile Habitats
During the dry season, female Freshwater Crocodiles
get around on sandy riverbanks looking for nesting sites. They lay 5-25
eggs and bury them under the sand where the eggs are incubated during
65-95 days before they hatch at the start of the wet season. Only 30%
of the eggs ever hatch. The female freshwater crocodile helps the
hatchlings out of the eggs and stays with them for several weeks. Life
is hard for the newly hatched crocs – goannas, large fish, sea-eagles
and other crocodiles may eat them, and generally only 1% of hatchlings
survive to maturity. But despite the low survival rate the populations
of Freshwater Crocodiles are increasing.
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Freshwater Crocodile Facts - Where
to See
them
Freshwater crocodiles are ectothermic (“cold-blooded”)
animals and they frequently have to come out of the water to maintain a
constant body temperature. During the warmer months they often float in
the
water to avoid overheating. During the cooler months they are often
basking on the riverbanks and this is
the best time to see them. Good places to see freshwater crocodiles
are Lakefield
National Park on the Cape
York
peninsula in north Queensland, and Litchfield
and Kakadu National Parks in Northern
Territory.
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Australian Crocodile Facts - Australian Saltwater
Crocodile Australian
Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
is the world’s
largest crocodile, and it is able to kill humans. They
have
therefore been one of the most infamous Australian
animals,
and they were shot to almost extinction before the 1970s when they
became
protected. Australian Saltwater Crocodile is a massive animal, it can
be up to 7m long and weigh over a tonne. You can distinguish it easily
from freshwater crocodiles by its broad snout, which reflects its
diet: it eats large mammals like kangaroos,
buffaloes and cattle but also smaller
prey like feral pigs, dingoes,
birds and fish. The world’s largest
crocodile is found along the coast of northern Australia from
Rockhampton in Queensland to Derby in the Kimberley region in Western
Australia, where it lives in swamps, rivers and
estuaries, and also in the ocean near the coast.
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Crocodile Facts - Saltwater Crocodile Habitat
Australian
Saltwater Crocodile
can often be seen laying on riverbanks during the day, and during the
night they hunt in the water. They are very territorial animals, and
fights between males can end up in fatal injuries. During the Wet
(December-March), female lays 50-60 eggs in a nest built of rotting
vegetation near the water. The warm temperature produced by rotting
incubates the eggs which hatch after 75-105 days. If the nest
temperature has averaged in
31.6°, more males will be born, while higher or lower temperatures
will
produce more females.
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More Crocodile Facts
The young are only 30cm long when they hatch and vulnerable for
predatory fish and birds, goannas and other crocodiles. Female carries
the babies carefully to the water, and remains with them for up to
three months. Once they are grown up, male youngs have to find a new
territory and if a male has to travel across land to find a new
waterhole, he risks to die of dehydration. Survivors live for 50 years,
and some very large Australian crocodiles are believed to be up to 80
years old. Read more
about world's
crocodiles (link coming soon).
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Crocodile Facts - Do Crocodiles Have Predators?
Other than humans, Australian saltwater crocodiles have no predators.
But Australian
crocodiles are
incredibly quick predators themselves. When a crocodile sees a prey on
the riverbank it sneaks up to it and stays under the water, waiting for
the right moment with only eyes and nostrils above the water surface,
until it jumps out and pulls the prey under the water. It kills the
prey by drowning, then comes out to the riverbank to eat.
Crocodile Farms that Have Australian Saltwater Crocodile
Australian zoo parks and crocodile farms also
put on croc feeding shows
where large crocs are hand fed by trained park rangers. Some of the
examples are
Darwin Crocodile Farm in Northern Territory and Australia Zoo on Sunshine
Coast in Queensland.
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Other Zoo Parks that Have Australian Saltwater Crocodile
In many crocodile farms and animal sanctuaries you can get close to
baby crocodiles - an example is Billabong Sanctuary south of Townsville
in north
Queensland.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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