Dinosaur-size crocodile photographed!

Adam Khor · 20-07-2011 11:29pm #1

Yeah, I know, dinosaurs were all sizes... but this is one HUGE croc! :> You probably have seen him already as the pic is everywhere by now.

His name is Brutus, and he is a saltwater croc living in the Adelaide River in Northern Australia. He is 5.5 meters long and probably 80 years old. He is missing an arm due to what tour operators say was a shark attack- although it looks like a crocodile attack to me. I have seen American crocs missing limbs due to territorial fights with other crocs. Brutus is also missing many of his teeth.

The best part is, there's another, bigger crocodile in the river, called Barabas, who is at least 6 meters long and has all of his limbs and teeth intact. (Could it be him who bit off Brutus' arm?)

Not paleontology but still damn interesting...

Rubecula · 21-07-2011 3:25pm

Great stuff Adam. I wanted to post that one myself but was not around to do it, so thanks for that.

I didn't know about Barabas though. Just a thought, but how big can these things actually get given the right conditions?

Wibbs · 21-07-2011 4:13pm

Here's a link with video http://www.news.com.au/travel/australia/brutus-a-monster-croc-not-a-crock/story-e6frfq89-1226094375720

AFAIR they can get bigger and bigger the older they are. So a 100 year old one would be bigger than them again. I think just over 20 feet is the limit, though bigger have been reported.

Galvasean · 21-07-2011 4:38pm

The Oronoko crocodile of South America can potentially reach seven meters in length (based on their fossil record).
Unfortunately they are quite rare these days due to hunting and as such the ones still living today are comparatively young and as such have not reahed their maximum size potential yet.
Luckily they are a protected species in most regions now.
Unfortunately the decline of Oronoko crocodiles left a niche which has been filled with their smaller relatives, the caimen. Adult caimen tend to hunt juvenile Oronokos and the explosion in caimen numbers is bad news for the Oronokos. It is feared that the Oronokos will never make a proper comeback as the town is no longer big enough for both populations of crocodilian (curiously, Firefox's spell check does not recognize this word and among the recomendations is the word 'necrophilia'

). To sumarize, the caimens are kicking the Oronokos' arses ecologically speaking.

I also come across the record of a salt water croc which was shot by a hunter years and years ago which was said to have been 30 feet long. Such a beast would certainly have looked dinosaurian!

Adam Khor · 21-07-2011 5:50pm

American crocs are no wimps either- they can grow up to 6 meters long and perhaps more. A famous zoologist around here reported an old male over 8 meters long! Of course, since the beast was never captured and measured, this was never formally accepted...

Here are the pics of an American crocodile measuring five meters long. You have probably seen these photos before- they were taken in Costa Rica, and the guy you see in them saved the croc's life after it was shot in an eye by some moron with a gun.
Amazingly the crocodile got so used to the guy that he lets him swim with him, pet him etc. He is still agressive towards other people, tho.