Show where crocodiles live on the map. African animals - crocodile. Life at the Zoo
It is perhaps difficult to name a more disgusting and terrible animal. Many experts and hunters believe that crocodiles kill more people than lions, tigers, panthers and snakes combined. It is believed that in Africa every year about a thousand people, mostly children and women, become victims of these animals. Crocodiles can be found in Central and Southern Africa, in hot regions of Asia, on the islands Pacific Ocean, lying in the tropical zone, and in the north of Australia. They are also found in the tropics South America, but the alligator is more common there. (It is not difficult for any naturalist to cite many signs that distinguish a crocodile from an alligator. We will refer to the most characteristic difference. In an alligator, if the mouth is closed, the teeth are not visible. In a crocodile, two long fangs are visible. They seem to rest in the grooves of the upper jaw and create appearance of a smile).
From his base in Jinja, he began showing them the ropes of African kayaking. “He wanted to take us from the snowy peaks into the deepest, darkest, hottest jungle,” Stackberry said. He wanted to prove to us that in this place, considered by Western media as one of the most dangerous places on Earth, we would find some of the nicest, most hospitable people we had ever met.
Over the course of two days, Coetzee took them to the Murchison Falls cut in the White Nile. He taught them to use their boats to make noise, to stay away from eddies where hippos might attack them, and to stay away from shores where crocodiles sunbathed. By the time they got to Lukuga, they were comfortable with their skills.
If you do not take into account several species of tiny lizards from the chameleon family, then of all reptiles only the crocodile has a “voice”. His strange, thick roar resembles either distant rumbles of thunder or the beat of a bass drum. Crocodile teeth have an amazing ability to regenerate. As soon as a tooth falls out, a new one grows in the place of the fallen one. And so all my life. The crocodile is not picky. Its gastric juice is so rich in hydrochloric acid that iron arrowheads and even steel hooks dissolve in it within a few months. But despite this, observations show that the crocodile’s appetite is small. In captivity, he only needs 400 grams of meat per day.
On the day Coetzee was attacked - December 7 - they saw three small crocodiles in the water, only 3 feet long. It rained for two days, so they didn't try to cook. And they faced 200 miles of flat water, winding through elephant-covered rocky hills before their final deduction. They were in the middle of a stretch about 100 feet wide, so close that their blades would touch if they got out of control. Coetzee was in the center, Stewartberry slightly ahead on the left, and Korbulik slightly behind on the right.
I took a look to measure that we don't go to each other. After talking to the villagers later, they realized that the crocodile was at least 15 feet long and weighed up to 2 tons. Stuckberry and Korbulik watched as the capsized boat shook for about 20 seconds as the crocodile pulled Coetzee from the slinky cabin. Realizing there was nothing they could do, they climbed as fast as they could to be less than one mile downstream to the village, where they caught Coetzee's boat as it floated without even scratching to tell how he disappeared.
The crocodile has two formidable weapons: terrible jaws and a powerful tail. With one blow of his tail he can kill an adult antelope or break its leg. Most often, the crocodile stays near the shore. Troubled waters hide the predator. He dives silently. And then it rushes at the victim, capturing it as if in a trap with its toothy mouth.
Coetzee's body was never found and he is presumed dead. This guest post was written by Miriam Murcutt. If the Zambezi River means one thing, it means hippos - in the water, under the water, grazing on the grasses along the banks, snorting, roaring or yawning to show off their massive ivory tusks that can bite a canoe in half, no problem.
He swam on the riverbank under only thin shade, and by the time we put away our gear we were all sticky with sweat. But once we were on the river, paddling with the current and feeling the wind, the heat became more bearable. However, we clearly irritated them. We invaded their space, so they opened their huge mouths and roared the entire volume, a sound that the water increased to blood. Then, one by one, they sank below the surface, leaving us wondering whether these notoriously aggressive animals were diving towards us underwater to attack or were simply waiting, submerged, on the muddy riverbed for us to pass by.
The eyes and nostrils, located very high, are barely noticeable on the surface of a lake or river. The body of the crocodile is under water. Like a submarine, the crocodile is equipped with an amazing system of valves that automatically close the nostrils, ears and throat when diving. The crocodile's eyes are unusually sensitive to light, which allows it to see well underwater even at night.
The biggest dangers, they said, were hippos, more hippos, and then crocodiles, followed by submerged trees, hidden sandbanks, strong currents, white roof waves and strong winds. This sounded like a lot of trouble to me.
Hippos, we were sure, were herbaceous mammals and not carnivores, so they would not attack us for food. They are, however, extremely territorial when in the water, so we had to provide them with the widest wide berths possible. Zera told us that as we paddled through the hippo's territory, he would often slap the water with a flat paddle or hit the side of his canoe with a blade to warn of any lurking hippos of our approach. At all times, he said, we should travel as a tight group, leaning toward the stern.
The crocodile is one of the few predators that boldly and systematically attack humans. In those places where it is sacred (they feed it there), where the waters are teeming with fish, the crocodile is almost not dangerous. But in others, where there is little fish and game, he is not averse to feasting on human flesh. Most often, the victims of crocodiles are women when they wash clothes on the river bank or come for water, and bathing children.
If we left a gap, the submerged hippopotamus might see the shadow of the first of our canoes and assume that we would all pass by. He could then rise to the surface to check the situation and stand in the middle of our flotilla, or worse, right under one of the canoes and certainly capsize it. On land we were told that we should never come between a hippopotamus and water. If we did this, the hippo would charge to clear its path to the river.
Moving on to the crocs, Zera warned us that they are opportunistic reptiles that are “always there, always waiting to strike.” We were told never to drape any part of our body over the side of our canoes, nor to jump from the canoes into deep water, nor to be tempted by the heat to go swimming. If our canoe capsizes, we should not splash around in panic, as this will certainly attract crocs. Instead, we should float gently into the nearest bank or simply throw ourselves into the ball and let the current take us to shore.
When a crocodile manages to grab a large animal, such as an antelope or a cow, it uses skillful swings of its head to unbalance the animal, and then drags it into the water on deep place and drowns. It would seem that we can start the feast, but some difficulties arise. The fact is that the teeth of a predator are not suitable for chewing. They serve him only as a means of capture. Therefore, the crocodile immediately deals with only small animals.
Alternatively, since our canoes were equipped with buoyancy tanks, we could hang from the floating hull, raise our legs parallel to it, or lift ourselves up from above at either end, and wait for a guide to rescue us. However, by law he was required to take part in normal target practice. They may indicate that water is flowing around the branches of a submerged tree, which can catch the canoe and capsize it.
Meanwhile the sandy shores might run us aground, the currents might direct the canoes where we had no desire to go, and the waves, if they met sideways and not on our heads, would place us in the water, veritable hippopotamuses and crocodiles. Miriam and Richard canoe on the Zambezi River.
The crocodile drags large animals away from the shore and waits until the carcass deteriorates and becomes softer. Only then does he tear her apart. Often a crocodile drags its victim into a cave dug under the shore. A kind of tunnel usually leads into it from the water. And through a small hole opening onto the surface of the earth, air enters the cave.
Each day of our canoe journey we awoke to the pink light of dawn, the hills of the northern Zambez escarpment forming a hazy horizon on the Zambian side of the river, while the dry bush country of Zimbabwe stretched in a swirl of dust to the south. We de-laminated, churned down tea and biscuits, and then rowed on the river for several hours with the air cool and the river calm. Then we go back to the river and pump for three hours or more until the heat is up and all we wanted was shade.
For most of the day we lay idle and emptied our sleeping mats under the acacia trees. Sometimes we got in the way of keeping an eye on the hippopotamus pods as they appeared and disappeared in the river. And we watched the crocodiles until our canoes were afraid and seemed as harmless as the logs along the shoreline.
This is an unusual incident that happened to an African. A crocodile grabbed him by the leg and pulled him to the bottom in front of those present. Fortunately for the victim, the crocodile's hideout was only a few meters away. The unfortunate man came to his senses in the cave. He was surrounded by skeletons and decaying carcasses. The crocodile was lying nearby. But soon the water began to boil and he disappeared. Then the African, taking advantage of the absence of the predator, dug a hole with his hands through which air came in and ran away. For a long time, people at home refused to believe the “alien from the world of shadows.” (By the way, it would be possible to make some good films about Africa with crocodiles in the lead role).
At all times we followed Zera's instructions to steer our canoes either directly towards the Zimbabwean side or away towards the Zambian coast to avoid the minefields of hippopotamus pods or to get closer to the elephants and water bucks feeding on the shore.
At dusk each night we headed to one of the islands in the river and camped on its beaches. We washed buckets of water behind the trees, which one of the guides brought us directly from the river. We slept under a sky spattered with stars, often swelled by the sounds of raucous hippos and screaming hyenas.
There are many varieties of crocodiles. The most common Nile crocodile lives in Africa and Madagascar. The female of this crocodile carries an average of 55 eggs. The length of each reaches 8 centimeters. She buries her eggs not far from the water in the sun-warmed sand and patiently waits for the offspring to appear. The wait lasts about three months. All this time, the female protects the eggs from robbers: mongooses, pythons, hyenas, monkeys and monitor lizards (sometimes people eat crocodile eggs, but the eggs smell like fish).
One evening our camp was overrun by a bull elephant. He passed within a 50 yard radius of where we were sitting on our campsites in a semi-circle around the cooking table. At first he stood and looked at us. But then we needed three big steps. Then he walked back three steps and we all sat down again. Zera focused her binoculars on him. "Don't move fast," he said, "and don't talk too loud." Twilight turned into night and the elephant became a dark presence among us. He did not behave as an elephant should - eat and walk, walk and eat.
When crocodiles are born from eggs, buried under a 50-centimeter layer of sand, they cannot break the shell. Then they begin to call their mother, who seemed to be just waiting for the SOS signal. The female immediately begins to rake up the sand. This instinct is unusually powerful. One day scientists conducted an experiment. They fenced off the egg laying area with a wooden fence. At the first distress signal, the female tore the fence to pieces.
He moved slowly in a semi-circle a few feet behind us, creating a wave of nervousness. From time to time he took a few steps forward, stopped, and then retreated in a half-fading dance. Finally, he turned and fled, sneaking between our tents before he crashed into the underbrush behind our campsite and disappeared.
The elephant reminded us that we are the intruders here. Part of it forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. There are several operators that offer kayak safaris of varying lengths on the Zambezi. We decided to go on a four-day, three-day canoe trip organized by Nature Gardens Safaris, where all camping equipment, food and two knowledgeable local guides were provided.
A newborn is small - about 25 centimeters. But from the moment he is born, he shows rare aggressiveness, sinking his teeth into everything that gets in his way. Having hatched from the egg, the newborn immediately rushes to the water, seeking refuge there from many birds and animals - storks, cranes, adult crocodiles, who find the meat of young predators tastier than eggs. Having counted all his enemies, some experts claim that out of a hundred newborns, only one manages to survive to adulthood.
Burkina Faso is on a plateau, and three-quarters of the country is fairly flat. However, the land rises to the south, where Mount Tenakuru reaches a modest 749 meters. And in the southwest there are hills and dense forests. The country has several lakes and river basins. The largest of these is the Volta Basin, with three rivers - the Black Volta, Red Volta and White Volta - running through the central and western half of Burkina.
Up to upper reaches The Volta River country was called the French Supreme Volta. Burkina's natural wooded grasslands or "savannah" are preserved in many national parks countries that have the largest number of elephants in West Africa. Lions, leopards and buffalo can also be found here, including the dwarf or red buffalo, a smaller, reddish-brown animal that looks like a ferocious type of short-legged cow.
Crocodiles live a hundred years or more. They are one of those rare animals that grow until they die, but their growth slows down as they age. They say that crocodiles of the Pacific Islands and Asia sometimes reach 9 meters. As for Nile crocodiles, recently not a single hunter can boast of killing a crocodile longer than five and a half meters.
Other large predators include the cheetah, karakuku or African lynx, spotted hyena and African wild dog, one of the continent's most endangered species. Its unusual name comes from a double bend in the Niger River on the northeast side. This provided vital infrastructure and new irrigation holes.
The most dangerous African animal?
Now the park's savannah forest is home to more than 30 species of mammals and 350 species of birds. Traditional beliefs claim that crocodiles and humans share the same spirit. Therefore, in Burkinabe the animal is sacred. On some lakes, crocodiles feed on a diet of chickens. Well accustomed to human contact, visitors may approach them. But this is not the case everywhere, so be careful of crocodiles in other places!
And the number of hunters is growing. Prices for shoes, bags and suitcases made of crocodile skin are rising, but demand is not decreasing. The toothy creatures, which emerged victorious in the fight for centuries, according to experts, lived on the planet a hundred million years ago, and are now dying from the bullets of civilized hunters. Naturally, predatory lizards disappear. Scientists predict the imminent extinction of the Nile crocodile. But few share their concerns. Hunters claim that crocodiles simply move to inaccessible areas, escaping the noise of civilization and the restless proximity to humans.
When asked what to call the most dangerous animal in Africa, people can guess the crocodile. The African Nile Crocodile is certainly found in rivers, lakes and ponds throughout Burkina Faso. But in fact, there is a water user who creates an even greater threat to people - the hippopotamus.
Hippos are easily agitated, especially if they have young calves nearby or if their path to water is blocked. You're probably familiar with these scenes in documentaries wildlife, where huge crocodiles burst out of the water to snatch wildebeest and other large mammals that are trying to cross the river. Well, pretty soon you may not have to go on an African safari to witness scenes like this first-hand. You can just take a vacation to Florida.
African countries have a different opinion. Many of them have limited the hunting of crocodiles (created nature reserves). So, on Lake Victoria in Uganda lives great amount crocodiles, the largest in Africa, and perhaps in the world. The waters of the lake are teeming with fish, and a hungry crocodile only has to open its mouth to get enough. Crocodiles lie on the shore. Sometimes so densely that some settle on the backs of their fellows. They look like fallen trunks of ancient trees, scorched by time.
For 3 million years, this prehistoric animal has thrived, eating everything that comes its way. It is one of the strongest predators in the world, and also ranks second in length after saltwater crocodile. It also has a reputation as a man-eating crocodile, which is why, in ancient times, it became a source of universal fear and worship.
Systematic position of the Nile crocodile:
Kingdom: Animalia
Type: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptiles or reptiles (Reptilia)
Order: Crocodiles (Crocodylia or Loricata)
Family: True crocodiles (Crocodylidae)
Species: Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)
Description
The Nile crocodile is widespread in the countries of eastern and southern Africa such as Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia and Somalia. This specimen of crocodiles is quite large. Males reach lengths of up to 6 meters and weigh over 1200 kilograms. Females, on average, are 30% smaller than males. From the moment of their birth, each code, these crocodiles grow 30 centimeters and throughout their lives they never stop growing.
Favorite food of Nile crocodiles: wildebeest. Every year, antelope gallop through Kenya and Tanzania, eating short green grass. They travel up to 1,600 kilometers in search of green pastures, since millions of wildebeest need a huge amount of grass, or rather up to 4 tons per day. And this path in search of food inevitably forces the wildebeest to cross twice a year. Mara River, where Nile crocodiles are already waiting for them. When the wildebeest reach the river, they do not immediately rush to cross it, because after weeks of travel, the antelopes are dehydrated, and the first thing they want is to drink. They are so thirsty that they do not notice that crocodiles are lurking just a few meters from their noses.
Crocodiles have excellent camouflage skills. If you look at a crocodile's head when it is in the water, all you will see is an inch of nostrils and eyes. It can submerge completely and silently, simply by displacing some air from its large lungs. Like sensitive submarine, it is designed to operate underwater. Its ears, nose and throat are protected by special strips of skin, and its eyes are covered with a thin transparent film. The crocodile kills prey only at close range. Approaching quietly, he waits until the wildebeest are within his reach, approximately 2 meters away from him. If the prey is further away, then the jump will most likely be unsuccessful. But if she is closer than 2 meters, then that’s a different story. A crocodile flies out of the water at a speed of 12 m/s. Serrated scales increase the area of contact with water, which helps the crocodile maneuver better in it. Its hind legs act like pistons and give it enough momentum to push itself off the flat river terrain. But the real power lies in its lumpy, muscular tail, exactly half the length of its body, which helps it accelerate towards its prey faster than a jet plane. This way his jaw is where he needs it.
Crocodiles detect movements in the water thanks to hundreds of tiny bristle-like receptors located along the length of its body, especially in its jaws, which are directly connected by nerves to the brain. When waves generated by an animal in the water reach a crocodile, it can instantly calculate which side it hit harder and in what proportion. And if the source of this wave is nearby, then in 200 milliseconds, 2 times faster than we blink, it makes a dash and attacks.
When a Nile crocodile leaps out of the water and grabs its prey, it is virtually impossible to escape. Its jaw, containing 65 teeth, is one of the strongest on the planet. A crocodile bites with a force of 1 ton and 100 kilograms. This bite is stronger than the bite of a white shark. But unlike her, the crocodile does not tear its prey to pieces while it is still alive, it uses its jaws to first drown the victim. They are capable of handling a panicked animal weighing 225 kilograms, and represent one of the most advanced biomechanical structures. Fast-twitch muscles give all animals, including humans, bursts of speed and power, but this crocodile's jaw muscles contract super fast and produce 65% more power. The crocodile snaps its jaws at a lightning speed of 9 m/s, almost 4 times faster than a rattlesnake.
Wildebeest don't have many defenses against crocodiles. But one of them is simple number. Some of the wildebeest will be eaten by crocodiles, but most will avoid this. Crossing to the other bank, thousands of animals begin to panic, their hooves cannot cling to the mud and hundreds find themselves trampled while the herd tries to climb out onto the steep and slippery bank. These crocodiles are superbly designed and skilled hunters, but this prey doesn't even need to be hunted. There are so many dead that wildebeest carcasses form dams in the narrow parts of the river.
Death spin- this is the only way to dismember prey into pieces: one crocodile tightly grabs the prey, and the other begins to spin or somersault in the water. Sometimes 2 crocodiles spin in different directions until they tear a piece of meat in half. Crocodiles have no arms and therefore no leverage to tear wildebeest apart, so by rolling over once, twice or even three times, they apply over 200 kilograms of force, torque and enough tension to rip pieces off the carcass.
Tearing apart the prey is only half the meal. The crocodile's mouth is designed for a death grip, but it cannot chew. Its jaws cannot move from side to side, so the predator has to swallow huge pieces whole, and this is a huge burden on the digestive system. However, his stomach is designed specifically for this. Food, passing through the esophagus, enters a part of the stomach filled with small stones that the crocodile swallowed in advance. They rub against each other and grind up wildebeest parts. Then, the already small pieces are mixed with hydrochloric acid, in such a high concentration that it can corrode metal. But to protect its own stomach, the crocodile secretes an alkaline solution that neutralizes it. Therefore, the antelope is digested, but the crocodile itself is not.
During the wildebeest migration across the Mara River, one crocodile can eat enough meat to survive for 2 years. This is important because two weeks after arrival, the antelopes move away and times of hunger may set in. Especially for this case, the crocodile has a cunning trick: digging a hole near the river bank, it crawls inside, to where it is dark and cool. Then, through a unique bioengineering process, the crocodile can slow down its metabolism. In this state, he may look like he is dying, but he is not. The predator is simply in “standby mode” and this is called aestivation. For this process, it requires very little energy to live. His lungs are huge, but rationally designed. He may not breathe regularly, but 1-2 breaths every couple of minutes. In this case, the body temperature drops to ambient temperature. Underground it drops to 15 degrees and below, and this radically slows down its metabolism, including the heart, which does something extraordinary - it slows down from 40 beats per minute to 5. A crocodile can spend a year in this state. Like winter hibernation in mammals, summer hibernation allows the crocodile to conserve its strength until it really needs it.
Getting your own food is not always the most important thing. Sometimes the fate of the next generation comes first. Crocodiles reach sexual maturity at 10 years of age. They mate once a year. Each reproduction cycle takes 6 months: from the moment of conception until the mother leaves her cubs. The other 6 months she builds up the fat reserves she will need to endure this painful cycle. After mating, the female crocodile will spend the next 3 months of the incubation period focusing solely on her children, while not eating anything. Laying eggs is the most energy-consuming process a female will ever engage in. Especially if each egg contains food for her young. To survive, she will have to turn to fat reserves stored in her abdomen, behind her front legs and even at the base of her tail.
On average, crocodiles lay up to 50 eggs at a depth of 50 centimeters. A thin squeak indicates that crocodiles started hatching, all at once. But for many, the first moments of life will also be their last. Adult crocodiles are at the top of the food chain, as there are no predators that threaten them. But they are born at the very bottom of this chain. If newborn crocodiles want to survive, their mother needs to get them away from this dangerous place in water. She will carry them in her mouth. Its jaw has a series of cartilages that allow it to lock its mouth at any time it closes. The female can also regulate tension and block her mouth, which is closed only 5 centimeters, which allows her to carry 20 cubs at a time without accidentally biting them.
Over time, the female crocodile's own energy reserves become depleted. However, this mother has no time to hunt. She needs to constantly protect the cubs from danger. But even under the watchful eye of the crocodile, out of 50 cubs, only about 13 will survive the first month of their life. Every day without food takes another 1,200 calories from the crocodile. But even an unfavorable environment and an age of only 1 month cannot keep crocodiles from doing what nature intended for them - to hunt and kill from the very beginning of their lives. Newborns attack anything small enough that they can bite and that moves - these are insects, small frogs, small fish. Growing crocodiles should eat 5% of their body weight every week, and even at two weeks of age they already know a maneuver that will help them eat larger prey - the deadly spin. A few months later, a predator will appear in the pond from which the kids may not be able to escape: a fearsome hunter 3,000 times larger than them. This is the predator crocodiles least expect to encounter: their own mother. Eating her offspring is the last resort to obtain the energy she needs to survive and to protect the rest of the babies.
The Nile crocodile is active eater of people. More people have died from its teeth than from any other crocodile. The usual reason for this is people themselves. For example, swimming across a river infested with these dangerous predators, by boat or canoe. In this situation, the crocodile knows that you are an easy prey in this position and it costs nothing for such an animal weighing more than a ton to ram the boat, thereby throwing people into the water. The worst thing is that when the crocodile has already closed its jaws on a person’s body, it is practically impossible to save him (the person). Even if you shoot at a reptile, in this case you will only slightly wound it, since the scaly shell on the crocodile’s back protects it perfectly. One can only hope that the crocodile will, by some miracle, open its deadly jaws.
This Reptile Species Proves Why Nile crocodiles success always follows and why they still retain the title of kings of the river.