CrocBITE

Here is an odd and sad incident from this week. A non-fatal bite involving an African slender-snouted crocodile, a critically endangered crocodilian native to West Africa. The circumstances are currently unclear. gh.opera.news/gh/en/environm…

Presenting a new episode of Croc Bites! In this episode we look at exceptionally large crocodilians. youtube.com/watch?v=E75unM…

@s_pooley Just did a quick analysis- average victim age for Nile= 25.1 years, saltie= 36 years. Nile victims= 63% male, saltie= 82.3% male. American croc had 89.1% male. Fishing is the major victim activity with estuarine species so it makes sense.

@BiteCroc Be interesting to consider age of victims in relation to fatal/non attack ratios. In looking in passing at Oz vs my SA data, definitely more kids proportionately in SA, than Oz (more drunken? adult males), and fatality rates higher for kids

A look at human-crocodile conflict from 1/1/2011 to 12/31/2020. A large number of Nile crocodile bites go unreported throughout the entire range of the species, while saltwater crocodile bites may go unreported in New Guinea and a few other areas.

@s_pooley For example, I have noticed that children and women collecting water are more often victims of Nile crocodile attacks, where most victims of saltwater crocodile attacks are fishermen in estuaries and along the coastline, activities that children are unlikely to be involved in.

@s_pooley That would be interesting to analyze. I have noticed that children make up a higher proportion of Nile crocodile victims in general throughout their range, although I'm not sure if this is due to a bias in reporting. Perhaps habitat and associated activities play a role?

@DWhite1542 Infestation has negative connotations. It implies that the crocodiles are not supposed to be there, akin to a termite or cockroach infestation. The lake is natural crocodile habitat, therefore "inhabited" is more accurate.

@BiteCroc Why is infestation the wrong term? That at least implies that there are many crocs, helpful if you were thinking of taking a dip. Inhabited could refer to a single croc after all.

In 2019 CNN created controversy when they described Lake Malawi as "crocodile infested". That term is inaccurate. "Crocodile inhabited" is the correct term. However, many people claimed that crocodiles were rare in the lake, which is also inaccurate. zodiakmalawi.com/nw/national-ne…

Feeding of a wild adult saltwater crocodile along the Nilwala River in Matara, Sri Lanka. Attacks on humans appear to have been reduced significantly over the past decade, but dangerous activities such as this certainly won't help keep it that way. youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3Yez…

Check out the first episode of our new YouTube series CrocBITEs!- youtu.be/vaWsVlUhzpE #CrocBITE #humancrocodileconflict #crocodiles #crocodilians #alligators #reptiles #animals

Evidence that the saltwater crocodile can be found as far inland as Keningau along the Padas River drainage in Sabah. There are historical records of human-crocodile conflict occurring around Tenom, but this is even further upriver. thestar.com.my/news/nation/20…

Since February of 2019 there have been 13 bites (all non-fatal) in this small area of Lampung (Sumatra). The crocodiles involve appear to be mostly small to medium in size (1.5-2.5m). lampungpro.co/post/32716/dit…

A population of saltwater crocs is present nearby in Sungei Buloh. Thankfully, the last recorded non-fatal bite in Singapore was non-fatal and it occurred in 1989 in Lim Chu Kang. The last fatality on record occurred in 1946 at the Pandan River in Jurong. mothership.sg/2021/03/crocod…

As spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere, it is important to note that most attacks & bites involving the mugger crocodile, American crocodile, American alligator, and Morelet's crocodile occur between March and October. 2 days ago in Karnataka, India- uniindia.com/news/south/wil…

And the correct answer is...All of the Above! A few mugger crocodiles have been found in the Maldives, alongside numerous saltwater crocodiles, hundreds of km from the nearest source populations in India and Sri Lanka.

Time for a slightly different poll. Some crocodilian species are capable of spending long periods of time at sea, sometimes allowing recolonization of areas from where they were extirpated. Which species has been found in the ocean hundreds of km from nearest source population?

Please check out our new paper on saltwater crocodile attacks in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. For questions, please email us.- publish.csiro.au/mf/MF20237?fbc…

Looks like most of you will be surprised! The Morelet's crocodile was responsible for the most New World crocodilian attacks in 2020- 17 incidents, 2 of them fatal. Usually the American crocodile is responsible for the most.

Time for another poll. 2020 was, in some ways, a strange year in human-crocodile conflict. In contrast to all other recent years, what species was responsible for the most reported attack/bite incidents in the New World in 2020?

This lake is famous as it is/was supposedly home to a large man-eating crocodile dubbed 'Gustave'. Very little evidence exists for much of the Gustave legend. The croc's size has also been exaggerated, without evidence. africa.cgtn.com/2021/02/27/tan…