Warning! No electronics or wildlife sound. Delete now if not interested in
a crocodile attack under unusual circumstances.
In my last email I told of the crocodile survey work of Prof. Messel in
northern Australia, and promised a posting on how a croc nearly dined on one
of Messel's team. It happened thus:
Three of the researchers had tracked a very large croc by the radio that had
been attached to it. They found it basking in the sun on the far side of
the river. They climbed onto a mangrove leaning over the water, but even
then and using the binoculars, they couldn't get a really good look at the
radio to check how well it was still attached.
One of them said that if one splashed a leafy branch in the water, it
sounded like an injured fish and a crocodile is attracted by the potential
meal.
They did that and almost immediately the croc waddled down to the river swam
out a few metres and disappeared. The researchers waited. A few minutes
later, the croc's head appeared out of the water below them. It paused for
a fraction of a second and then launched itself out of the water at the
lowest bloke on the tree. He was saved only by a small branch that
deflected the croc's strike. (Three blokes moved smartly as high as the
mangrove would support them!)
I read the account of this in a scientific journal, but it was some 20 years
ago and I don't now remember what journal it was.
Syd.
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