Crocodile nicknamed "Gustav".

Gustav is a massive Nile crocodile native to Burundi. In 2004, this venerable resident of Africa turned 60 years old.

It weighs 20 feet and is 6.1 meters long. Gustav weighs more than one ton. The few who have seen the crocodile confirm that Gustav is the largest individual on the planet. Gustav is a famous cannibal, it is said that he ate more than three hundred victims. Mostly people who died were fishing along the banks of the Ruzizi River and on the northern coast of Lake Tanganyika. Although, the indicated number of deaths is clearly overestimated. Authority Gustav has grown so much that now it is feared not only in the area around its habitat. According to eyewitnesses, Gustav may not finish eating a corpse if the person is not to his taste



Name Gustav the crocodile received from Patrice Faye, a French resident who arrived in Burundi. Faye is a self-taught naturalist who has been observing crocodiles since 1998. Faye and a group of like-minded people who made films about the life of crocodiles tried to catch Gustav in 2002. After several unsuccessful attempts, the crocodile escaped from the people who caught it. Documentary footage of the hunt for Gustav was edited into a movie " Killer Croc", which aired on PBS in May 2004. Gustav was last seen in February 2008.

But Gustav is not the only huge crocodile living on our planet. Found in parts of Asia and Australia saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), whose length reached 6 meters (20 feet). In eastern India, a crocodile more than seven meters long entered the Book of Records.



It is easy to identify a crocodile named Gustav. Bullet scars are visible on his body: one scar is visible on his head, three on his right side.

Due to its great weight and enormous size, Gustav is unable to hunt small fish, so heavy animals such as wildebeest, zebras... and people become victims of the crocodile.
The latest information about Gustav was received in February 2009. At that time, the famous crocodile still lived in the Ruzizi River valley.

It weighs 20 feet and is 6.1 meters long. Gustav weighs more than one ton. The few who have seen the crocodile confirm that Gustav is the largest individual on the planet. Gustav is a famous cannibal, it is said that he ate more than 50 victims. Mostly people who died were fishing along the banks of the Ruzizi River and on the northern coast of Lake Tanganyika. Although, the indicated number of deaths is clearly overestimated. Gustav's authority has grown so much that now he is feared not only in the area around his habitat. According to eyewitnesses, Gustav may not finish eating the corpse if the person is not to his taste.

The crocodile received the name Gustav from Patrice Faye, a French resident who arrived in Burundi. Faye is a self-taught naturalist who has been observing crocodiles since 1998. Faye and a group of like-minded people who made films about the life of crocodiles tried to catch Gustav in 2002. After several unsuccessful attempts, the crocodile escaped from the people who caught it. Documentary footage of the hunt for Gustav was edited into the movie "Killer Croc", which aired on PBS in May 2004. Gustav was last seen in February 2008.

But Gustav is not the only huge crocodile living on our planet. Saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) have been found in parts of Asia and Australia, reaching lengths of up to 6 meters (20 feet). In eastern India, a crocodile more than seven meters long entered the Book of Records.

The hunt for the country's largest man-eating crocodile, Gustav, begins in Burundi. The challenge of a huge 6-meter reptile, whose weight is twice the weight of an ordinary crocodile and is believed to reach a ton, was made by a Frenchman named Patrice Faye, ITAR-TASS reports. After a long search, this professional hunter was lucky enough to track down Gustav. A huge crocodile, which is at least a hundred years old, lives in the Ruzizi River among hippopotamuses and does not bother them. However, for local fishermen, Gustav poses a mortal danger - he has already dragged at least 50 people to the bottom. However, it seems that the “horror of the Ruzizi River” will soon come to an end. In September, a group of hunters from France will arrive in Burundi to help Patrice Faye. They will try to catch Gustav by baiting him with a live baby goat into a metal cage. Then the monster will be taken to the capital of the country, Bujumbura, to be shown to tourists.

Even as a child, Patrice Faye dreamed of exploits, fights with monsters and getting rid of people from them. “Gustav is the embodiment of my childhood dream. Maybe I am destined to find death in his jaws. You can’t escape fate,” says Patrice.

By the way, Gustav still swims in the waters of the Nile and continues to terrify the inhabitants of the shores of Lake Taganika.

Additional information

Coordinates: Lake Tanganyika

Longitude: 29°32′49.08″ E. d. (29.546966)

Latitude: 5°8′53.87″ S w. (-5.148298)

It is not difficult to distinguish a crocodile from an alligator - crocodiles have a more elongated jaw and you can clearly see the upper front tooth.

This predator, dangerous even for humans, can reach impressive sizes. Today, the largest crocodile in the world is the saltwater crocodile. It is named so because of the two characteristic ridges on the reptile's nose, running from the eyes to the middle of the upper jaw. Such crocodiles live over a fairly large area - they can be found near east coasts Africa and India and the Far East, in most countries of South Asia and off the coast of Japan. Their habitat also extends from South Asia to Northern Australia.

There have been several individuals in the world in recent decades that are rightfully considered record holders due to their size.

The cannibal Gustav of Burundi

Of these, the largest crocodile named Gustav was shot dead in 1987. by request local residents in the Republic of Burundi, where he terrified local population. There were rumors about the killing of about 300 people by this reptile, and local residents said that the crocodile hunts people, but does not eat them.

Crocodile Gustav

This crocodile reached a length of 6.1 meters and weighed more than a ton. Scientists suggest that other, larger crocodiles can be found in Gustav’s habitat, but there is only accurate information about the existence of Gustav, who was considered the largest.

Long-lived Cassius Clay

Today, Cassius Clay lives in Australia, the oldest crocodile, which is recognized as the largest crocodile living in salt water. In 2013, Australians celebrated the animal's 110th anniversary.

Crocodile Cassius Clay

The reptile's name was given in honor of the famous boxer (Cassius Clay is his real name). Cassius length is 5.48 m, weight is 1000 kg. He appeared in 2011 on the pages of the Guinness Book of Records as the most big crocodile.

Filipino Lolong

All crested crocodiles can live in both fresh and salt water, and often live in river mouths, where they hunt. In 2011, an even larger crocodile than Gustav, named Lolong, was caught in the town of Buanawan in the Philippines.

Crocodile Lolong

He was placed in a water eco-park specially built for him, where he lived until 2013. There are two possible reasons for the death of the reptile: a nylon cord swallowed by a crocodile and unusually cold weather for this climate. Officially, the reason has not yet been announced. Lolong reached 6.4 meters in length and weighed more than a ton. For a short time in 2012, it was included in the Guinness Book of Records, but after the death of the reptile, Cassius Clay remains the largest crocodile in the world.

The largest ever

Of all the crocodiles that lived on our planet, the largest was Sarcosuchus, who lived on Earth during the Cretaceous period. It reached a length of 12 meters and weighed about 8 tons. Scientists made this conclusion based on the animal remains found. In the mid-20th century, in the Sahara, the French paleontologist Albert-Felix de Lapparent found teeth and several armor plates of such a crocodile, and later skeletons were found.

Sarcosuchus crocodile skeleton

Although crocodiles can kill humans, today people are more likely to hunt and kill these reptiles. After all, crocodile skin is a very valuable material, for the sake of which crocodiles are exterminated en masse, and their numbers are over last years in the world has decreased significantly. Factors such as human development of the habitats of these animals and extermination out of fear also play a role in reducing their numbers, since crocodiles often hunt people.

In some countries (Australia, India, Myanmar) reptiles are protected. There are programs to restore their numbers, young crocodiles are raised on egg farms, and hunting them is prohibited. The strongest efforts to protect reptiles are in Australia, and their numbers there have increased in recent years. And in countries like Sri Lanka and Thailand, crocodiles have probably disappeared completely. In Vietnam, their number does not exceed 100 individuals.

And continuing the topic of the largest animals, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with.

“Children, don’t go to Africa for a walk. Big, angry crocodiles live there...” The famous poem has long been true in Burundi, a small East African country. The local population freezes in fear when talking about the Ruzizi River and Lake Tanganyika. For decades, a giant man-eating Nile crocodile named Gustav has lived in those places. The information about this reptile is so incredible that it seems as if Gustav is just a fiction. But to the horror of the people of Burundi, a giant man-eating crocodile with unprecedented intelligence is the absolute truth, confirmed by numerous research groups and hunters.

Presumably, the Nile crocodile Gustav was born in 1955. For the first few decades, the crocodile did not show itself in any way, hunting the usual prey for its species: fish and antelopes that had the temerity to get too close to the shore. But due to his ever-increasing physique, Gustav was soon forced to switch to slower and less agile food - buffalo, hippopotamus and people.

Photo of Gustav by National Geographic photographer Martin Best |

In the late 1990s, the country's authorities became interested in the predator and sent several hunting teams to search for it. All their attempts to catch the reptile were unsuccessful, but along with the stories of local residents, observations of professional zoologists who were lucky enough to see the man-eating crocodile several times appeared for the first time. It turned out that Gustav can easily claim the title of the largest crocodile in the world - its length is more than 7 meters, and its weight apparently exceeds one ton. It was not possible to study the crocodile in more detail, not to mention catching it - in some incredible way, Gustav every time manages to disappear into the water immediately after he was noticed. Even skeptics had no doubt about the cunning and intelligence of the animal after many years of hunting it. Many times, professional crocodile catchers have set all kinds of traps using various baits. But every time, Gustav either did not react at all (although, according to the catchers who noticed the tracks of a huge crocodile, he was definitely somewhere nearby), or he managed to drag away the bait without any consequences for himself. The most famous case occurred in 2002 with the team of the famous naturalist from France Patrice Faye. He and his team tried to at least attract Gustav to film the giant with a camera. For a long time the reptile did not react in any way to the actions of people, so on the last day the naturalists decided to act for sure. In order to attract the crocodile, they used a live goat, placing the animal in a strong metal cage, which was supposed to ensure the complete safety of the live bait. A camera was installed opposite the cage. At night, due to a downpour, the camera broke, and the next morning Patrice and his team discovered that the durable metal cage was damaged and the goat had disappeared. Looks like Gustav had a feast that night...

And if European naturalists still manage to attract the search for a man-eating crocodile, the local residents flatly refuse to equip any expeditions. True, initially angry residents, armed with firearms, went in search of the crocodile to avenge their murdered relatives. And then his thick shell came to Gustav’s aid, from which bullets fired at point-blank range literally bounced off. Eyewitnesses who spot Gustav from time to time claim that the crocodile has many scars and lingering wounds on its back caused by bullets. Each such hunt ended tragically for one of the hunters - Gustav, as if sensing that people had come to catch him, began to behave extremely carefully, remaining in the water and quickly attacking his victims at the very edge.

Since then, local residents, who tried to kill the crocodile with the help of bladed weapons, rifles and machine guns, and even explosives, stopped pursuing him, actually mistaking him for a deity. There are rumors that in some African settlements they even offer human sacrifices to Gustav, who are then left on the shore of a reservoir in order to appease the crocodile and divert his anger from the village for a while. But there is something to be afraid of: Africans claim that Gustav often kills for fun, leaving people’s bodies on the shore without even using them for food. According to official information, Gustav killed more than 300 people during his life, according to unofficial information - several thousand. It should not be surprising that the reptile constantly finds new victims - local residents, lacking drinking water, are forced to go to the shores of Tanganyika under pain of death.

The last time a man-eating crocodile was seen was in 2015, when it dragged a huge buffalo into the water. Surely in this moment Gustav is looking for his new victims.

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(Crocodylus niloticus), elevated to the status of a local idol and mythical character. In terms of its popularity and the number of legends associated with it, it can compete even with the world-famous Loch Ness monster. With one exception: the existence of the “devil of Burundi” is documented, as are the numerous human victims on his account.

Here is what zoologist Vladimir Dinets writes about Gustav in his book “Songs of Dragons”:

“The most famous man-eating crocodile is Gustav, a huge male living in the shallow northern part of Lake Tanganyika. Basically, he stays on the territory of Burundi, but every time another hunting expedition is sent for him, he moves to Tanzania or Congo-Zaire, since Burundi is a small country and is always close to the border. For several decades now, he has successfully avoided numerous traps and has developed a habit of teasing hunters before sneaking up on them and killing them.

When he is not being hunted, he is not particularly careful and has become the hero of several documentaries. The locals fear him to such an extent that they are rumored to offer human sacrifices and prayers to him. They claim that Gustav killed over three hundred people and often exterminates people just for fun, leaving the bodies intact. It is also said to be the largest Nile crocodile in the world, about seven meters long, although it has only been measured from photographs. Nile crocodiles those living further from the equator do not grow so large - apparently because they almost stop growing in winter. Gustav is so strong that he can hunt adult hippos.

This is probably what every crocodile dreams of. East Africa, where hippos often bully crocodiles and sometimes kill them. It would have been very interesting to hear Gustav “sing”, but in 2004, when I came to Tanganyika and saw Gustav on his favorite beach, it was not mating season. Moreover, he is unlikely to roar loudly, since he lives in a large lake.”

From source to source, the number of lives taken by Gustav the Cannibal varies greatly. Usually they talk about documented 300, but such authoritative publications as National Geographic (by Michael McRae, published in March 2005 and its update in February 2008) tactfully make do with the wording “several hundred.” This is understandable, because it is almost impossible to obtain an objective figure. In addition, the search for Gustav by world researchers was often difficult, for example, due to the movements of the animal, and local residents are not particularly eager to look for a mythical creature with a bad reputation, from which bullets literally bounce.

In addition, people tend to exaggerate: fear has big eyes. However, Gustav's fame not only as a man-eater, but also as the largest crocodile in the world, seems to be justified. Of course, it is impossible to measure all the living crocodiles, and besides, the Internet is replete with all sorts of (mostly fake) reports about yet another giant found. However, the length of the largest crocodile listed in the Guinness Book of Records is 6.17 meters. This is a saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus) named Lolong. He was captured in the Philippines on September 3, 2011, precisely because of his attacks on people, after which he spent a year and a half in the Bunawan Eco-Park and Research Center and died on February 10, 2013. Naturalist Patrice Faye, who has been tracking Gustav since 1998 and gave the man-eating crocodile its name, estimates the length of the "devil of Burundi" at 20 feet (that is, approximately 6.1 m).

It is not possible to photograph the giant at close range to obtain high-resolution images. But the pixelated nature of the image does not prevent one from realizing the scale of the disaster, whose name is Gustav. Photo from sk.pinterest.com

As you know, reptiles grow throughout their lives. Therefore, Gustav, due to his age (about 60 years), is several times larger than his average brothers. Having reached enormous sizes, a crocodile must change its diet, since the usual food like fish or antelopes can no longer suit it: they are too small for it, and it is too clumsy for them. Therefore, he goes to another section of the menu, which includes, for example, baby hippos and humans. There is, however, another point of view on this matter: Gustav could switch to feeding on people due to fierce local conflicts in Burundi with a huge amount victims, who were subsequently dumped into the river. Simply put, he was accustomed to human flesh, and due to his size, he could also afford to obtain it even after the end of civil strife. Of course, local residents tried to kill Gustav more than once, as evidenced by scars and bullet marks on the giant’s body. But this is generally prohibited by law, since it is a representative of a protected species. Therefore, there was no centralized assistance from the government. Thus, we have a vicious circle: the crocodile has reached gigantic size, switched to feeding on people, but nothing can be done about it, so the crocodile grows even more along with its needs.

Gustav’s needs can be colorfully described with numbers from the same Patrice Faye’s message: “He can eat 10, 15 or 20 people along the shore. One year I followed the path of one of his raids: 17 people were eaten between Kanyosha and Minago, Kabezi and Magara.

It must be said that the researchers did not sit idly by, watching the giant methodically slaughter the local population. An attempt was made to catch Gustav in a 10-meter cage using bait. However, the efforts of 40 people to transport this cage were in vain: they failed to beat the “devil of Burundi”.

An attempt to outwit Gustav turned into a failure of a grand experiment for the researchers and a late-night snack for the giant himself.

Now the reports about Gustav are very contradictory. Back in 2008, Michael McRae wrote that searches in 2004 yielded no results, and rumors circulated among local residents that the “devil of Burundi” was shot and eaten in the neighboring Republic of Congo or died of old age. However, three years later, Patrice Faye reported that Gustav was in good health and was seen again, and the list of victims was only growing. Probably, the giant simply buries himself in the mud of the Rusizi River from time to time and waits...

Alexandra Nechaeva