Visitors can help deliver baby alligators - cfnews13.com

13 August 2011

Holding alligators typically is not a good idea.

But that's one of the appeals during the annual Hatching Festival at Gatorama.

From Aug. 20-31, visitors can put on their gloves and help deliver thousands of baby alligators.

The park is about 2 1/2 hours from St. Petersburg/Tampa.

"You can feel it moving in the egg," Gerald Calway said. "Just holding the baby, and having it come out of the egg, it was awesome."

Allen Register, owner of Gatorama, demonstrates the proper technique.

The 7-to-9-inch babies are coiled up inside their egg. With a little pinch, they'll pop through the egg.

Newborn alligators don't have teeth, Register said, so they're safe to handle.

Crocodile calls on family during 'sahur' - asiaone.com

12 August 2011

KUCHING: A family was getting ready for sahur at 4am yesterday when they heard a loud thump outside their house. Surprised that someone would pay a visit at such an early hour, Mohd Ali Jais, 51, looked out of the window to check on the visitor.

Imagine his shock when he saw a crocodile slamming its tail on the door of the chicken coop. Ali's house at Kampung Tanjung, Petra Jaya, is near a river.

"The reptile was almost blocking the path in front of my house. I immediately called my neighbours and we tried to catch the crocodile before it caught us.

"It was is about 1.5m long and weighed about 50kg.

"It took us almost half an hour to capture the beast. It was scary."

Ali said the village people knew there were crocodiles in the nearby river, but this was the first one that had come so close to their homes.

"The swamps upriver are where most of the crocodile nests are. There were a few sightings by the villagers there. But this is the first time we have seen one coming ashore to our village."

The crocodile was later handed over to the Sarawak Forestry Corporation.

(Sahur is the last meal in the early morning before fasting begins for the day)

Crocodiles of the World

OMG...!

How could I have not know about this place until yesterday??

I must have been in a void for the last 6 months. Even with all the emails giving me croc news and all my favourite croc sites on facebook, the program that viewed on Channel 5 was the first I knew of it's existence.

I think this will be a little slice of heaven for me and I am off there this weekend to their open day on Sunday 14th August. Car hire booked, and ticket reserved.

More after the weekend...

11-foot gator nabbed in Greenville - sunherald.com

11 August 2011

GREENVILLE -- A Mississippi wildlife department sergeant and six others caught an 11-foot-alligator prowling the streets of Greenville.

Master Sgt. Hugh Johnson told The Delta Democrat-Times a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy spotted the alligator while patrolling Wednesday morning.

The alligator was to be released at the Pearl River Wildlife Management area in Madison County.

BUSTER WOLFE/DELTA DEMOCRAT-TIMES An 11-foot, 5-inch alligator was captured early Wednesday in Greenville ‘walking the streets,’ said Master Sgt. Hugh Johnson, a Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks conservation officer. It is estimated that the alligator weighs between 750-800 pounds.

“He’s a reminder that where there is one, there are others. This must be taken very seriously. They can hurt you,” said Johnson, who was bitten on his right thumb earlier this year by one of the reptiles. “These animals are hungry,” said Johnson.

“They will eat anything that gets in their way.”

Johnson advised residents not to feed alligators and to call authorities if they spot one. “I can’t emphasize enough on how important it is to call someone if they spot one of these things,” he said. “They are very dangerous.”

Croc sighted at new beach - whitsundaytimes.com.au

11 August 2011

BEACH-GOERS have been deterred from swimming at Boathaven Beach just weeks after it opened after tourists reportedly saw a crocodile in the water on Tuesday.

He said at first he wasn’t sure what was happening but they told him they saw a crocodile in the water.

Mr Pearson said he had heard of crocodiles being sighted in the mangroves near the beach in the past but had never actually seen one.

Shute Harbour resident Mark Pearson was kayaking at the beach near Port of Airlie when he heard a group of tourists yelling out to him.

"I won’t be going back there for a while," he said. "I put my tail between my legs and came back to Shute Harbour," he said. A sign has been put up at the beach warning swimmers of the sighting and urging people to take care if in the area.

Fifteen-foot Bengali crocodile claims king of jungle title from tiger - telegraph.co.uk

11 August 2011

The tiger may be king of the jungle, but its writ does not extend to the wild mangrove swamps of West Bengal where a 15-foot crocodile claimed the title earlier this week.

Forest officials in the Sundarbans national park said the crocodile had made jungle history by becoming the first in living memory to kill a tiger.

A post-mortem examination of the carcass of an eight-year-old male tiger discovered by rangers on the banks of a jungle river on Tuesday has confirmed that he was killed and eaten by a crocodile. The tiger had been attacked as it swam across the river and was killed in what they believed had been a fierce struggle.

Bivash Pandav of the Wildlife Institute of India's Endangered Species Department said attacks by tigers on crocodiles were common – a crocodile was killed recently in Ranthambore tiger reserve. "However, this is the first time we have heard of an attack by crocodiles on a tiger," he said.

While it was rare for large predators to confront one another, he said, crocodiles have an advantage in water. "Salt water crocodiles are very powerful. Tigers cross creeks to move from one island to another in the Sundarbans and a crocodile in water is definitely much more powerful than a tiger," he said.

Photo of the day - nationalpost.com

10 August 2011

An officer holds a baby saltwater crocodile at BKSDA (Natural Resources Conservation Board) office in Yogyakarta August 10, 2011. The reptile is one of eight baby saltwater crocodiles which survived during a move to Gembiraloka Zoo in Yogyakarta, after officers confiscated 27 of the species about three weeks ago as they were being smuggled from Central Kalimantan province to Central Java for trade.An officer holds a baby saltwater crocodile at BKSDA (Natural Resources Conservation Board) office in Yogyakarta August 10, 2011. The reptile is one of eight baby saltwater crocodiles which survived during a move to Gembiraloka Zoo in Yogyakarta, after officers confiscated 27 of the species about three weeks ago as they were being smuggled from Central Kalimantan province to Central Java for trade.

Baby croc find sets tongues wagging - asiaone.com

8 August 2011

KUANTAN - A 24-year-old technician returned home to find an unexpected guest on Friday.

When Woon Tien Hao arrived home from work at 8pm, he spotted a baby crocodile near the shoe rack at his Jalan Haji Junid's house.

The reptile's mouth was sealed with blue duct tape.

No one in his family believed him when he alerted them, thinking that it could be a monitor lizard which had wandered in. The only family member who saw the reptile was Tien Hao's father, Woon Wee Kee, 51, who returned home a few minutes later.

Wee Kee said since the 76cm-long animal appeared weak, he squeezed a few drops of water into the reptile's mouth and kept it inside a big box.

"Crocodiles are usually known to be aggressive, but this one appeared tame. Maybe because it is still young.

"The entire neighbourhood was shocked about the crocodile as there are no rivers nearby."

Wee Kee said he then contacted a friend who later informed the State Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan).

The department's officers came to his house on Saturday morning to take the animal away.

State Perhilitan director Khairiah Mohd Shariff said the department later released the buaya tembaga (estuarine crocodile) into Sungai Kuantan here.

She said they were investigating how the reptile ended up at the housing area and whether anyone nearby was keeping it as a pet.

She said the animal, weighing almost a kilogramme, was an endangered saltwater crocodile and those caught in possession of any endangered animal could be charged under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, with a maximum fine of RM100,000 or jail up to five years.

Two crocodiles reported in Diwaniyah River - alsumaria.tv

8 August 2011

Directorate of Environment in Al Diwaniyah Province said on Sunday that a big crocodile appeared in Al Diwaniyah River and that for the first time which spread fear among young men who went to the river to swim.

Director of Al Diwaniyah Environment Directorate Haidar Aanaj told Alsumarianews that for the first time in the history of Al Diwaniyah a big crocodile was seen in the river. To that he also added that the environment conditions of Al DIwaniyah are not convenient for the presence of such a big fierce amphibian.

Aannaj called young men to stay away from swimming in the river water before getting precise information about this issue.

A big number of young men are heading to Diwaniyah River to swim because of the high temperature levels and because electricity is being cut off for long periods.

Hassanen Jalil a 19 years old young man told Alsumarianews, eyewitnesses who swim with us on a daily basis in the river said that they saw two big crocodiles in the river which spread fears among us and prevented us from swimming in the river.

“It seems that the Ministry of Electricity made an agreement with those two crocodiles to prevent us from swimming in the river after knowing that we swing to flee the high temperatures and the ongoing shortage in electricity” said Majed Abdullah another young man.

However, other citizens said that those two crocodiles might have fled from the personal zoos of some rich people who like to own fierce animals in their properties.

Al Diwaniyah River is one of Euphrates river ramifications; it enters Diwaniah after passing by Hella Province and heads afterwards to Muthna. The river water level decreased considerably during the last few years given the high rate of evaporation and because Turkey and Syria are taking larger quantities of water than their allocated part which affects Iraq’s share thereof.

It is to be noted that workers in Duhok Province killed in July 11 a crocodile that fled from Duhok Public Zoo since more than two years.

(You wouldn't really expect to see a Croc in Iraq...)

Crocodile sculpture found in Vishwamitri - indianexpress.com

7 August 2011

Workers cleaning up the banks of Vishwamitri river here have stumbled upon a giant sculpture of crocodile, a councillor has claimed, adding he was told by MSU students that it could be as old as 248 years.

On Friday, BJP councillor Ashok Pawar, who is involved in cleaning up the banks of Vishwamitri, was informed by workers that they had come across a big sculpture of crocodile while cleaning the steps of a Shiva temple at the river ghat.

“When the workers were digging into the waste and mud, they hit upon a stone. Since they were told about the presence of old structures, they immediately informed us and we reached there. After careful digging, a massive sculpture of crocodile was unearthed. Some students from the Faculty of Fine Arts were interested and they told us there was a mention of the same sculpture in the British Library and that it could be 248 years old,” said Pawar.