Maybe one of the most controversial animals on earth is the crocodile. Someone considers him terrible and bloodthirsty, someone thinks that he is useful, and some are completely sure that these reptiles are the real descendants of dinosaurs living in our time. We all know interesting facts about crocodiles that are hard to believe. Let's figure out where is the truth and where is fiction.
Who is a crocodile?
The crocodile is a predatory, carnivorous aquatic reptile. It lives in tropical and subtropical climates. It is possible to meet them on all continents except Europe and Antarctica. Most of a crocodile's life is spent in the water. They love warm muddy reservoirs, slow-flowing rivers, lakes, swamps. All that crocodiles are able to get is to suit them for dinner. And the prey can be different - this is both small fish from reservoirs, and large mammals that come to the watering place. The life expectancy of crocodiles reaches 100 years. They start to breedages 6-8.
Serpentologist is a very interesting profession. People of this speci alty know everything about crocodiles and other reptiles. It is their task to study the varieties of these dangerous animals.
The most common types of crocodiles
Today, 23 species of crocodiles live in rivers and lakes. All of them are divided into three families:
- Crocodiles are the largest family. It includes 14 species of these amphibious reptiles. It is to this family that the well-known Nile crocodile belongs. Interesting facts and horror stories about crocodiles living in the largest river in Africa will scare even the brave ones.
- Alligators. This family includes two types of alligators and six types of caimans. In fact, alligators are different from crocodiles and caimans, although many do not see the difference.
- Gavial. There is only one species in this family, the Gangetic gharial.
Why is a crocodile dangerous?
Is it true that crocodiles should be feared? Are they as dangerous as they look? Or maybe "fear has big eyes" and all the horror stories about these reptiles are fiction?
In fact, the crocodile is a strong animal with huge teeth and lightning-fast reaction, but it does not specifically hunt people. These reptiles can only harm those who invade their territory. Their attacks are often defensive in nature. Everything about crocodiles, with regard to their bloodthirstiness and danger to humans, is exaggerated at times, but still makes sense. Need to be extremebe careful when communicating with them, especially if such communication takes place outside your territory.
Interesting facts about crocodiles
The appearance, menacingness and danger of these reptiles have always aroused great interest. These amphibians have many amazing features:
- Suddenly, crocodiles can climb trees. Zoologists often noticed them on tree branches. Moreover, they can climb to a height of up to 2.5 m.
- Legend says that when a crocodile eats a person, it cries, feeling guilty. This is partly true - you can see the tears of a crocodile, but only they appear when he eats any meat, and are not associated with an awakened conscience, but with a physiological feature. Thus, excess s alts are removed from the body of the reptile.
- Crocodiles have 24 teeth. They change throughout life. Instead of a lost tooth, a new one necessarily grows, and this can be repeated many times.
- A crocodile can jump out of the water up to two meters high.
- You can often see reptiles lying on the shore with a frighteningly open mouth. This is done to cool the body.
- Crocodylus porosus is the largest crocodile. Its body length reaches 7 meters, and its weight is 1 ton. You can meet him in the northern part of the Australian continent and in India.
- Newborn crocodiles are easy prey. 99% of them are eaten by adults of their own species and other predatory animals.
The most common myths about crocodiles
Not always interesting facts aboutcrocodiles are true. It so happens that the widespread information about a particular feature of these reptiles is simply fictional.
There is an opinion that birds, trying to find food, use their sharp beaks to clean the crocodile's teeth from food debris. In fact, such a symbiosis has not been observed in the wild, and information that many believed to be true turned out to be fiction.
Another fiction concerns the crocodile tongue. There is an opinion that these reptiles simply do not have it. As you might guess, this is not true. Each crocodile has a tongue, and it is also very large. It's just that these reptiles can't stick it out. This is due to an anatomical feature: the tongue is attached along the entire length of the crocodile's lower jaw. That's what this reptile is deprived of, so it's lips. They are indeed absent from the crocodile, so he cannot completely close his mouth and sharp teeth are always in sight.
Those who believe that crocodiles run fast are also mistaken. The structure of the body of this reptile simply does not make it possible to reach speeds of more than 10 km / h.
Crocodiles on TV
Interesting facts about crocodiles (of course, fictional) can be learned from cartoons.
Perhaps the most famous crocodile "from TV" is considered to be Gena. That same friend of Cheburashka. This is a kind and shy crocodile, which is impossible to imagine without his favorite harmonica. With his songs, he cheers up more than one generation of kids.
Recentlythere was a whole computer game dedicated to the cute and friendly crocodile - "Crocodile Swampy". He is very clean and tries to take a good bath all the time. This crocodile became so popular that a serial animated series of the same name was filmed about it.
In the famous verses of Korney Chukovsky, the crocodile is yet another villain, because he swallowed the sun. But as in any fairy tale, everything ended well. This story also deserved to be made into a cartoon.
Crocodile horror is most often shown in feature films. The reptiles there are not so kind and friendly. There are many films in which the main character is a crocodile. You will not see interesting facts for children in them, but for adults, viewing promises to be entertaining. "Waters of Prey", "Lake of Fear", "Alligator" are just some of the many crocodile horror films.
