The saltwater or estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is the largest of all living reptiles, and is often said to be the most dangerous to humans. It is found in suitable habitat throughout Southeast Asia and northern Australasia.

Diet

This crocodile is an opportunistic predator capable of taking any animal up to the size of a water buffalo, in the water or on dry land. Juveniles are restricted to smaller items such as insects, amphibians, crustaceans, small reptiles and fish. The larger the animal grows, the greater the variety of items that it includes in the diet, although relatively small prey still make up the majority of the diet even in adults. Saltwater crocodiles can take monkeys, wild boar, dingos, domestic livestock, water buffalo, big cats, sharks and any human who fails to take sensible measures. Generally very lethargic – a trait which helps it survive months at a time without food – it typically loiters in the water or basks in the sun through much of the day, usually preferring to hunt at night. It is, however, capable of moving with astonishing speed when required, able to cover 10m from a standing start significantly faster than a race horse, especially from the edge of the water, where both legs and tail are utilsed for propulsion. As an ambush predator, it usually waits for its prey to get close to the water's edge before striking without warning and using its great strength to drag the animal back into the water where it is usually drowned (although if there is more than one croc about, it may be simply dismembered). It is an immensely powerful animal, having the strength to break a large animal's legs with its tail, drag a fully grown water buffalo into a river or crush a full-grown bovid's skull between its jaws.

Size

Adult male saltwater crocodiles are typically 5 metres (17 ft) long, although larger individuals may surpass 6 metres (20 ft) or 7 metres (23 ft) in length and weigh more than 1000 kg (2200 lb). Average sized males weigh around 455 kg (1000 lb). Females are much smaller than males, with typical female body lengths in the range of 2.5–3 metres. The largest crocodile ever recorded was 8 metres 64cm (28ft 4 inches) shot by school teacher (later conservationist) Krystina Pawloski on the Norman River in northern Queensland, Australia in 1957.

Habitat and Range

Saltwater crocodiles generally spend the tropical wet season in freshwater swamps and rivers, moving downstream to estuaries in the dry season, and sometimes travelling far out to sea. Crocodiles compete fiercely with each other for territory, with dominant males in particular occupying the most eligible stretches of freshwater creeks and streams. Junior crocodiles are thus forced into the more marginal river systems and sometimes into the ocean. This explains the large distribution of the animal (ranging from the east coast of India to northern Australia) as well as it being found in odd places on occasion (such as the Sea of Japan, for instance).

Saltwater crocodiles are known in the Northern Territory of Australia as 'salties'. The Alligator Rivers are misnamed after the saltie's resemblance to alligators as compared to freshwater crocodiles, which also inhabit the Northern Territory.

See also

• Crocodile attacks

References

External links

• Recent Crocodile Attacks in Australia
• Crocodylus porosus (Schneider, 1801), by Adam Britton from the Crocodilian Species List.

Crocodiles | marine reptiles

Krokodýl mořský | Saltvandskrokodille | Leistenkrokodil | Crocodylus porosus | Crocodile à double crête | Buaya muara | Crocodylus porosus | תנין הים | イリエワニ | Zeekrokodil | Krokodyl różańcowy | Crocodilo de água salgada | Гребнистый крокодил | Suistokrokotiili