Lolong the crocodile confirmed as the world's largest

Adam Khor

In capivity at least. Nat Geo guy who measured him says it was like measuring a dinosaur. He is 21 feet and one inch long. The previous record holder was just 18 feet.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/237992/nation/natgeo-team-confirms-lolong-the-croc-is-worlds-biggest

Personally I find it sad that Lolong (who has eaten humans and cattle in the past) is probably safer in captivity than he would be in the wild- such a magnificent beast should be able to remain in its natural habitat. Problem is, there is less and less habitat for these creatures to live...



On other crocodile news, Pocho, the American crocodile famous for being, according to some experts, the only case of a truly tamed crocodile in the world, has died seemingly of old age.
Pocho was shot in an eye by a rancher and left to die. A man named Gilberto Shedden found him and nurtured him back to health. Eventually the crocodile returned to its natural habitat but allowed Gilberto to swim with him, pet him, and even scratch his belly. Interestingly, the crocodile did not allow any other human to do so and Gilberto always warned that the animal continued to see the rest of people as prey. Although American crocodiles are often said to be more docile than Nile or Saltwater crocs, truth is that they can be just as dangerous and kill several people every year in Latin America.

When Pocho died, he was 5 meters long, weighed almost half a ton and was nearing 60 years old.



I bet you all have seen these pics before:

Mickeroo

Hadn't heard about Pocho before. The guy had some balls to go swimming with a croc, no matter how "tame" it seemed

Galvasean

They say you should be careful even with tame dogs... but in Pocho's case his mouth is as big as your body! :eek:
Do they know how old he was when he died?

Adam Khor

Galvasean wrote: »

They say you should be careful even with tame dogs... but in Pocho's case his mouth is as big as your body! :eek:
Do they know how old he was when he died?

Gilberto said he was nearing 60- most sources online however say he was 50. I guess no one really knew for sure...