A giant crocodile. The largest crocodile in the world

Crocodiles live long enough to gain weight, which will allow them to become the top of the food web in their ecosystems. Ton or a little more - is not it enough to fight a buffalo, an elephant or a man? Deadly rotational spurt - and the crocodile not only grabbed the victim, but also tore off her head.

Large crocodiles

Among these animals, there are amazing species, they not only reach enormous size and weight by the standards of predators, but they also live very long - more than a hundred years. To date, it is believed that the combed - a giant crocodile, the Nile - a little less, and the Orinoco crocodile and false gavial - occupy the third place. Although the size of the caught males in recent years are almost the same.

All these species of large crocodiles are cannibals. Eat all that can grab, wait, drag under the water. ь там, где не нужно делить территорию с гребнистым. Nile and marsh can themselves become prey to the comb (marine), so they prefer to live where there is no need to divide the territory with the comb.

Description of the giant crocodile - combed

морской крокодил. Various sources call this monster in different ways: Indo-Pacific crocodile, combed, estuarine, Crocodylus porosus, marine crocodile. It is the largest reptile in the world, occupying a place on the top of the food chain. The length of males can be up to seven meters, but today's specimens rarely reach a size of 5 meters. Female is much smaller, their maximum length is only up to three meters. 150 кг. The weight, respectively, of the male individuals is maximally from a ton to two, female - up to 150 kg.

ля сравнения: вес нильского крокодила и его размеры чуть меньше, чем у гребнистого и составляют у самцов — 4 метра при весе более 400 кг. For comparison: the weight of the Nile crocodile and its size is slightly less than that of the combed one and make up 4 meters in males weighing more than 400 kg.

олова у гребнистого крокодила очень длинная и широкая: максимально известное соотношение длины к ширине основания — 76 см к 48 см. The tin is very long and wide in the combed crocodile: the maximum known length to base width ratio is 76 cm to 48 cm.

In the center of the muzzle down to the snout from the eyes descend two ridges, hence the name - combed.

This species of crocodiles begins the journey into life, having only 28 centimeters long and 71 grams of weight. A year later, it weighs two and a half kilograms, and the length is one meter.

Crocodylus porosus явно выраженный половой диморфизм. Crocodylus porosus has a pronounced sexual dimorphism. Males are considered sexually mature at 16 years with a length of 3 meters, females - a little earlier - in 12-14 years, with a length of 2.0-2.1 meters.

The weight of a giant crocodile, however, like all other species, increases not linearly, but exponentially: a male 6 meters long will weigh twice as much as a five-meter-long one. With age, crocodiles are added in length all the less, although the weight may increase. It depends on the habitat (the presence of food). Dominant males weigh more than usual, as they have the opportunity to eat in a larger area.

Habitat

The combed crocodile, perhaps the only one of the others when choosing a habitat, travels for a long time in sea water. The crocodiles marked by radio beacons swam to 400-500 km in a few weeks. Moreover, they use the force of the current, simply drifting along it, while retaining energy. According to observations, marine crocodiles can interrupt the voyage, waiting for a passing current up to several days.

According to the descriptions cited in the sources, the marine crocodile is less social than other species, it is more intolerant to its male counterparts, protecting females from them, and shows much more aggression.

During the day, the reptile takes sunbaths more and bathes in the water. At night the giant crocodile hunts.

Although the crocodile and monstrously huge, it can not be called slow: it is wildly active and fast, literally flies out of the water during an attack on the victim. When swimming, it can reach speeds of up to 29 km per hour, although not very long distances. The usual speed when cruising between islands, banks, along rivers - up to five kilometers per hour. If the crocodile is in shallow water, where it can swim and run - it will not leave the victim a chance to escape, no matter how fast it is.

It is possible to judge the brain development of a giant crocodile with its relatively small size (only 0.05% of the mass) by the way it literally studies the places of going into the water and the migration routes depending on the season of future victims.

How the combed crocodiles prey

The techniques used by Crocodylus porosus for hunting are similar to those of all other species. бо затаскивая под воду, чтобы притопить или придавить. Usually they circle silently around the intended victim, then they jerk at it with a sharp jerk, either swallowing right away, or dragging them under the water to sink or pinch. On the land, in contrast to the Nile crocodile, the combed ones were not marked on the hunt, although they are known for their tailing of the macaque from the land and "cutting off" from the low-lying branches of reptiles, lizards, birds, and mammals sitting on them.

A feature of hunting marine crocodiles (as well as others) is that their teeth are only able to grab and squeeze the victim, but do not gnaw it. Small animals and fish crocodiles simply swallow, and with a large straightened otherwise - literally "twisting" from her pieces spinning around their axis or huge jerks.

Features of the structure of the jaws of the crocodile

When grasping the jaw, they compress as much as no known animal can shrink. Usually, the force of compression of a crocodile is compared with the registered stain of a spotted hyena - 16 kilos of newtons versus 4.5.

It is proved that this is the result of the anatomical structure of the crocodile jaws. As a result of the evolution, the muscles for closing the jaw developed in crocodiles unusually, they take up a lot of space and are hard as a stone. But the muscles for opening are weak and small, so after capturing live crocodiles, the muzzle is pulled together with only a few layers of adhesive tape.

Life of crocodiles in captivity

To date, many zoos exhibit crocodiles, especially many in Australia, where the traditionally large population of comb species.

In the Philippines in 2011, a large croiker of great size was caught. The capture was initiated by local residents, they suspected this male in the death of a fisherman and a girl, besides he constantly hunted buffalo.

As soon as he was noticed (after three weeks of observations), a hundred people of local residents, together with hunters, took to fishing. This happened on September 3, 2011. He was dragged out to the dry with great difficulty, he thrust himself three times until the reptile was securely tied up.

In the zoo it was measured, it was entered in the Guinness Book of Records (as a crocodile living in captivity). Lolong is a giant marine crocodile, its size is 6.17 meters, 1075 kilograms. At the time of measurement he was about fifty years old.

In captivity, a crocodile named after one of the hunters lived until February 10, 2013. He died of pneumonia and cardiac arrest.

Local authorities could not decide what to do with the deceased crocodile, so he lay in the deep freezer for a long time.

Today it is stored in the Manila National Museum of Natural History.