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Sunday 10 August 2014

Crocodile

In 2001 it was announced that scientists had unearthed the remains of an ancient crocodile which lived 110 million years ago. The animal, found in Gadoufaoua, Niger, grew as long as 40 feet and weighed as much as eight metric tons.

A crocodile escaped out of a duffel bag onboard an internal flight in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on August 25, 2010. This caused the frightened passengers to move to the front of the plane, resulting in the aircraft crashing on approach to Bandundu Airport, killing 20 people.

The phrase "crocodile tears" refers to a medieval belief that crocodiles shed tears of sadness when killing and consuming their prey.

An Indonesian prison announced in 2015 a plan to use crocodiles as guards for death row drug convicts.

The Nile crocodile and similar species, unlike other animals known to be "man-eaters", are one of the few predators that see humans as actual reliable food and it will attack to predate unprovoked or when they see the opportunity.

There is a village in Africa's Burkina Faso where crocodiles and humans have lived side-by-side in peace for over 600 years

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

Crocodiles have no lips and can hold their breath for an hour.


A crocodile in cold water can hold its breath for eight hours. In warm water, its only 15 minutes.

The Nile Crocodile can hold its breath underwater for up to two hours while waiting for prey.

Prior to Steve Irwin's death the Australian naturalist designed and funded a study which discovered that crocodiles can "surf" long distances across the ocean. One of the crocodiles in this study surfed 366 miles within 25 days.

The dwarf crocodiles living in the Abanda cave system in Gabon have turned bright orange, due to bat guano bleaching their skin.

A crocodile cannot chew. Its digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail.

A crocodile's mouth can be held shut with a rubber band because its jaws have very little opening strength.


The saltwater crocodiles of Australia have brains the size of a walnut.

Every year on average in Australia, 2.5 people are attacked and 0.7 killed by crocodiles.

Ninety-nine per cent of crocodile offspring are eaten in the first year after birth, by large fish, herons, monitor lizards and adult crocodiles.

During the water bird’s nesting season, crocodiles will balance sticks over their snouts in order to lure birds that are searching for nesting material.

Crocodiles are fast on their feet, but cannot turn very well. If one is chasing you, run in zig zag lines.

Technically Crocodiles do not die. Instead of aging biologically, they just keep on growing physically. They keep eating more and more food as they grow until they finally die of hunger, get diseases or get killed by a predator.

A group of crocodiles is called a bask.

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