Crocodiles live long enough to gain enough weight to become the top of the food web in their ecosystems. A ton or a little more - is that not enough to fight a buffalo, an elephant or a man? A deadly rotational jerk - and the crocodile not only grabbed the victim, but also tore off her head.
Big crocodiles
Among these animals there are amazing species, they not only reach huge sizes and weights by the standards of predators, but also live a very long time - more than a hundred years. To date, it is believed that the combed - a giant crocodile, the Nile - a little less, and the Orinoco crocodile and false gharial - take third place. Although the sizes of the caught males are almost the same lately.
All these kinds of large crocodiles are cannibals. They feed on everything that they can grab, watch for, drag under water. The Nile and swamps themselves can become the prey of the ridged (sea), therefore they prefer to live where it is not necessary to share the territory with the ridged one.
Description of the giant crocodile - combed
Different sources call this monster differently: Indo-Pacific crocodile, combed, estuarine,Crocodylus porosus, s altwater crocodile. It is the largest reptile in the world and is at the top of the food chain. The length of males can be up to seven meters, but today's individuals rarely reach a size of 5 meters. Females are much smaller, their maximum length reaches only three meters. The weight, respectively, of males is maximum from a ton to two, females - up to 150 kg.
For comparison: the weight of the Nile crocodile and its size is slightly less than that of the s altwater crocodile and is 4 meters in males with a weight of more than 400 kg.
The head of the combed crocodile is very long and wide: the maximum known ratio of length to width of the base is 76 cm to 48 cm.
In the center of the muzzle down to the snout from the eyes two crests descend, hence the name - combed.
This species of crocodile begins its journey into life at just 28 centimeters long and 71 grams in weight. A year later, he already weighs two and a half kilograms, and the length is one meter.
Crocodylus porosus has pronounced sexual dimorphism. Males are considered sexually mature at 16 years old with a length of 3 meters, females - a little earlier - at 12-14 years old, with a length of 2.0-2.1 meters.
The weight of a giant crocodile, however, like all other species, does not increase linearly, but exponentially: a male 6 meters long will weigh twice as much as a five-meter one. With age, crocodiles add less and less in length, although weight may increase. It depends on the habitat (availability of food). Dominant males weigh more than normal males because they have the ability toeat over a larger area.
Habitat
The combed crocodile, perhaps the only one of all the others, when choosing a habitat, travels for a long time in sea water. Crocodiles marked with radio beacons swam up to 400-500 km in a few weeks. Moreover, they use the power of the current, simply drifting along it, while maintaining energy. It has been observed that s altwater crocodiles can interrupt swimming, waiting for a favorable current for up to several days.
According to the descriptions given in the sources, the marine crocodile is less social than other species, more intolerant of its male relatives, protecting females from them, and shows much more aggression.
During the daytime, the reptile takes more sunbathing and bathes in the water. At night, a giant crocodile hunts.
Although the crocodile is monstrously huge, it cannot be called clumsy: it is wildly active and fast, literally flies out of the water during the attack on the victim. When swimming, it can reach speeds of up to 29 km per hour, although not for very long distances. The usual speed when cruising between islands, coasts, along rivers is up to five kilometers per hour. If the crocodile is in shallow water, where it can both swim and run, it will not leave the victim a chance to escape, no matter how fast it may be.
You can judge the development of the brain of a giant crocodile with its relatively small size (only 0.05% of its mass) by how it literally studies the places of entry into the water and migration routes depending on the season of its future victims.
How to huntcombed crocodiles
The techniques used by Crocodylus porosus to hunt are similar to those of all other species. Usually they circle silently around the intended victim, then attack it with a sharp jerk, either swallowing it immediately or dragging it under water to drown or crush it. On land, unlike the Nile crocodile, combed ones were not observed hunting, although their method of knocking macaques off the land with their tails and “cutting” reptiles, lizards, birds, and mammals sitting on them from low branches is known.
A feature of the hunting of s altwater crocodiles (as well as others) is that their teeth can only grasp and squeeze the victim, but not gnaw it. Crocodiles simply swallow small animals and fish, but they deal with large animals differently - literally “unscrewing” pieces from it by rotating around its axis or in huge jerks.
Features of the structure of the jaws of a crocodile
When grasped, the jaws clench as hard as any known animal can clench. Usually, the grip force of a crocodile is compared to the registered bite of a spotted hyena - 16 kilo Newtons versus 4.5.
Proved to be the result of the anatomical structure of the jaws of a crocodile. As a result of evolution, the muscles for closing the jaw have developed unusually in crocodiles, they take up a lot of space and are hard as stone. But the muscles for opening are weak and small, so after being captured by live crocodiles, the muzzles are pulled together with just a few layers of duct tape.
Life of crocodiles in captivity
Today, many zoos exhibit crocodiles, especially a lot of them inAustralia, where the population of combed species is traditionally high.
In the Philippines in 2011, a huge combed crocodile was caught.
The capture was initiated by local residents, they suspected this male of the death of a fisherman and a girl, in addition, he constantly hunted buffalo.
As soon as he was noticed (after three weeks of observations), a hundred people of local residents went out to catch together with hunters. This happened on September 3, 2011. He was dragged with great difficulty to land, he pulled out three times until the reptile was securely tied.
The zoo measured him, he was listed in the Guinness Book of Records (like a crocodile living in captivity). Lolong is a giant s altwater crocodile, its dimensions are 6.17 meters, 1075 kilograms. At the time of measurement, he was about fifty years old.
In captivity, the crocodile, named after one of the hunters, lived until February 10, 2013. Died of pneumonia and cardiac arrest.
Local authorities couldn't decide what to do with the dead crocodile, so he lay in the deep freeze chamber for a long time.
Today it is stored in the Manila National Museum of Natural History.
