BIG CROCODILE - UP CLOSE

Hi

In the last blog post I mentioned that there has been increased crocodile activity lately. This is quite normal for the wet season. 

A local resident sent the short video below to me. It was taken near the Croker Island Airport on Palm Bay beach. It shows a large male croc making it's way back to the sea. 

It could have been just sunning itself to increase its body temperature (crocodiles being cold blooded animals) or it could have been travelling from a creek a few hundred metres behind the beach. 

Take particular notice at the end of the video - one second the croc is visible and the next it not. They are masters of stealth! 

Recently we noticed this dead crocodile on the floodplain (near the road that crossed the floodplain) estimated to be 3-3.5 meters in length. How did it died?

This appears to be a male. In the NT it is an offence to kill a crocodile without a permit. We were unable to drag the croc to the land for a closer examination and we certainly weren't going to get into the water knowing that there would almost certainly be other crocs around. 

Very experienced people who work with crocodiles often say - don't worry about the crocs you can seen, it is the ones that you can't see that you should be more concerned about. 

The two possible causes of death for this croc were - shooting or two males crocs fighting to the death. 

We talked with the few people on the island who have firearms, however it appears they were not responsible.  

Given two males were seen fighting in this area last wet season, that is probably the most likely cause of death. 

The large male in the video earlier lives it this same area so it could have been him dispatching rival male on his patch.

 A couple of Garngi rangers attended a Marine Mega Fauna Workshop in Darwin this week. Marine mega fauna are animals like turtles, dolphins, false killer whales (who are really a dolphin species), manta rays, killer whales, whales, and whale sharks.  It was very interesting - marine research along the north Australian coast, warming land and sea, rising sea levels and a new topic that you may not have heard about - micro plastics in the marine environment. I believe this is going to be a significant issue of concern in the coming years. 

More on this in the next blog post.

Cheers for now. 

Bryan