MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: RECENT ALLIGATOR EPISODES IN SHANGHAI

A couple of days ago Bob Skinner passed on some information to me about Chinese Alligators in Shanghai although this report (from Chinacartimes.com on August 7th 2012 of all places) erroneously describes them as Crocodiles.

Forget New York, Shanghai Has Its Own Crocodiles Lurking About.

Rumours about Crocs and Alligators have been doing the rounds in New York for as long as anyone can remember, the problem with New York is that its actually quite cold in the winter so any man eating reptile would have to find a nice warm place to spend the winter. Shanghai is a little different however, it gets cold in winter but not overly so, throw in the fact that exotic wild animals can be bought relatively easily either for dinner or for amusement and you have a potentially dangerous situation

[The creators of this web story don`t seem to realise that the alligator is/was a native of the Yangtze which joins the E.China sea at Shanghai).

Shanghai Daily has an interesting story on the third crocodile caught in Shanghai`s creeks and rivers this year:

“Wild animal protection authorities said they caught a 1.5m long crocodile in a creek in a suburban residential area after terrified residents saw it swimming near the creek bank yesterday afternoon.

It is the third crocodile that officials said they have caught in the Pudong New Area this year.

The crocodile was seen by residents swimming in a creek near a supermarket on Changqing Road in Pudong at about 2pm yesterday. The unusual scene attracted a group of residents to a nearby bridge to watch, witnesses said.

“I was going home after shopping at that supermarket when I suddenly saw it under the bridge”, said a witness surnamed Wang. “ At first I thought it was just a big black fish but when its head floated onto the waters surface – I realized it was a crocodile!”

An official surnamed Tang with the Pudong Wild Animal Protection Station told Shanghai Daily at first they tried to use a tool to clamp down on the crocodile`s head.But the crocodile went below the surface. Tang said.

They then used a big fishing net to catch it about 4pm.

Local police were still investigating where it came from. On May 12, a crocodile was seen in a suburban creek in Pudong`s Kangqiao Area. Police said they had to kill it after failing to catch it. On January 15, a dead 2.1 meter-long crocodile was found in a creek in Pudong`s Yangyuan Area. Wild aniaml experts said it might have escaped from a restaurant (1)

1 http://www.chinacartimes.com/2012/08/07/forget-york-shanghai-crocodiles-lurking/

Bizarre white alligator

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: ANOTHER GIANT TURTLE IN THE U.S.A

A few days ago you may remember I presented information about a very large turtle in a U. S. lake, namely, The Beast of Busco. Well, today I turn to a similar turtle, this time in a lake in Illinois, namely Island Lake quite near Chicago. This latter one was even thought to be a killer.

I found this brief story in Omni magazine, the now defunct U. S. science fiction, fantasy and paranormal magazine. Unfortunately I do not know the exact date; probably some time in the mid to late 1990s, though it was in August. There is a link on the Web to some of the archives at:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.omnimag.com/

'the links past Jul 21, 2003 will go to Penthouse magazine instead,but most of them are web-archived Omni pages, including chats, short stories, and articles.' (1)

'OMNI was a science magazine and science fiction magazine published in the U. S. A. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction. The first issue was published in October 1978, the last in Winter 1995, with an internet version lasting until 1998.' (2)

The story is as follows: 'MOBY TURTLE. Move over Nessie. Recent reports tell of a giant killer turtle living in Island Lake, Illinois, some 40 miles north-west of Chicago. It all started about a year ago, when resident Liz Herman spotted two large snapping turtles mating in the water just beyond her back-yard sea wall.

'"These turtles were huge, maybe three feet long" says Herman. "My husband Kevin didn`t believe me until he saw my photos. Then he showed them around town." "Soon rumors [sic]were flying." says Georgine Cooper, a town trustee. "The turtle was said to be anywhere from the size of a small pickup truck to an 18-wheel semi." "Our Water Department supervisor, Neil De Young, tried to catch the turtle," adds local police chief Eugene Bach." All he got for his trouble was bent hooks."

'Bach refuses to fuel the killer-turtle rumours. In fact, he thinks the turtle may be an alligator snapper released into the lake some years ago by a local boy." Alligator snappers, he says, "can grow to more than 60 pounds and can be 25 inches long. Listen," he adds, "I could tell you that when kids hang their feet over the pier they get chewed up, but that wouldn`t be true." (3)

There is a headline in the text which says, in capital letters: 'The Giant Turtle, Referred to as a man-eating terror, has generated national tabloid headlines and has even been profiled on local Chicago news stations.' (4)

1. Omni (magazine) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omni_(magazine)
2. Ibid
3. Moby Turtle. Omni. August?p.72
4. Ibid.p.72

Neil Young Heart of Gold

I`ve been to Redwood
I`ve been to Holywood
I`ve crossed the ocean
for a heart of gold
I`ve been in my mind
It`s such a fine line
That keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I`m getting old

RICHARD FREEMAN: A round up of weird animal news

Just a few news stories that have caught my eye recently:

Remember Rolf Harris with 'Jake the Peg (and his extra leg?) Well, I think Jake must be running a farm in Australia by the look of these stories.

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2009/08/14/93641_news.html

http://macarthur-chronicle-camden.whereilive.com.au/news/story/five-legged-lamb-born-in-tahmoor/

American alligators rarely exceed 10 feet these days. However, in Alabama a couple of huge ones have been recently killed. Matt Thornton killed a 13 foot, 5 inch 'gator in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, tipping the scales at 705 lbs. John Sutton killed a 12 foot, 10 inch specimen from the Tenshaw River. Though many crocodile species get vastly larger, 'gators of this size are now very uncommon.

Why people have to kill these magnificent beasts is beyond me. Is it to prove that they are men? If so they fail abysmally and prove only that they are juvenile cowards. By killing big male 'gators they are diluting the gene for large size and are robbing the world of spectacular animals.

http://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2009/08/hunters_bag_701pound_gator_in.html

I'm middle-aged and have a beer belly so the next story gives me hope. A plump, middle-aged Slovenian has just swum 3,274 miles down the Amazon, braving caiman, piranhas and the genital-burrowing candiru fish. The reason: it was there!

Apparently his doctor told him to give up drinking so he had a bottle of red wine, some whiskey and a beer. What a guy!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/23/man-swims-the-entire-length-of-the-amazon-115875-21616720/

MICHAEL MALONE: The latest on the Alabama Alligator Hunt

Hey from Alabama! I found a 'gator! Kinda. Not really. But thanks to the traffic from your site, a fan found the story you posted at CFZ and contacted me with a photo of a 'gator his wife took in the same area I've been looking! The full story is here!

http://runwolf.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/photographic-proof/




Thanks!


The previous installments of the Alabama Alligator saga can be found here..
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2009/06/michael-malone-my-first-gator-hunt.html

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2009/06/michael-malone-sweet-home-alabama.html

MICHAEL MALONE: MY first `Gator hunt

Alabama alligators have been prominent on the CFZ Bloggo over the last week or so. There was the photograph of the so-called giant that turned out not to be a giant after all, and there was an article by a bloke called Michael Malone that was both witty and informative. This morning I had another e-mail from him:

I've posted my first report on my blog. Please steal and use as you will. I have pictures and everything! About five people read my blog, so steal, steal, steal; I won't even request a link!Anyway, I'm rather pleased with the first post about the first trip. Went out 'gator hunting again today but no luck. Mostly I was trying out a new kayak since going solo in a canoe is tough and it seems no one wants to go with me when I mention looking for 'gators. I have some video from today's trip and I'll send you the youtube link later, and can get you the raw file if you like. Here's the link to the first foray into 'gator hunting: http://runwolf.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/first-attempt-at-gator-hunting/

Michael - I wouldn't hear a word of it. Your blog is interesting, on-topic for what the CFZ stands for, gives us an insight into the natural history of a part of the world that I have never visited, and it makes me laugh; so, not only are there links to it on this page but I have added you to the prestigious CFZ Link-O-Tron on the right hand side. So There....

This post is about a week late. No, it’s exactly a week late. This is the story of my first attempt at hunting for the elusive North Alabama 'Gator. It took place on Sunday, 14, 2009.

As I said in a previous post, I’ve decided to track down the North Alabama 'Gator. Rumour has it that the 'gator can be found in Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge but there are few pictures available, if any; and no pictures of active nests. In fact, since the 'gator release in the 70’s, only one nest has been found and that was in 2001.

Limestone Bay at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge

So I went looking. My first attempt at finding the 'gator was to try the backwaters of Limestone Bay. I put in at Arrowhead Landing but that may not have been the best choice. Everyone claims the 'gators are in the various backwater swampy sections, so that’s where I wanted to go. Arrowhead Landing, however, is a long paddle to the backwaters over a wide bay that can be quite windy but I made it to the backwaters and explored as far as I could after the long slog.

Read on

ANOTHER ALABAMA ALLIGATOR

One of the things about the Fortean omniverse I have always found entertaining is the way that stuff always happens in batches. On the same day that I received this story
about alligators in Alabama, I also received this series of photographs and what purports to be a news story:



"The picture to the left was taken by a KTBS helicopter flying over Lake Wiess about 90 miles north of Birmingham, Alabama. The helicopter pilot and the game warden were in communication via radios; following is a transcript of their conversation:

"Air1, have you a visual on the 'gator? Over. "
"Approaching inlet now; over."
"Roger, Air1."
"'Gator sighted. Looks like it has a small animal in its mouth. Moving in; over."
"Roger, Air1."
"It's a deer!"
"Confirm, Air1! Did you say 'deer'? Over."
"Roger. A deer, in its mouth. Looks like a full-sized buck . That's a BIG 'gator! We're gonna need more men. Over."
"Roger, Air1. Can you give me a idea on size of animal? Over."
"It's big... 25 feet long...at least! Please advise; 'gator is heading to inlet... Do I pursue? Over."


That has to be a HUGE 'gator to have a whole deer in its mouth! The deer was later found to be a mature stag and was measured at 11 feet! Are you ready to go skiing on Lake Wiess ?! If you ski at the west end of the lake, try not to fall!

This alligator was found between Centre and Leesburg, Alabama, near a house! Game wardens were forced to shoot the alligator... guess he wouldn't cooperate.

Anita and Charlie Rogers could hear the bellowing in the night. Their neighbors had been telling them that they had seen a mammoth alligator in the waterway that runs behind the Rogers' house but they dismissed the stories as exaggerations. "I didn't believe it," Charles Rogers said; however, they later realized the stories were, if anything, understated. Alabama Parks and Wildlife game wardens had to shoot the beast. Joe Goff, a 6'5" tall game warden, walks past the 28-foot, 1-inch alligator (8.5 metres) he shot and killed in the Rogers' back yard.

We sent the pictures to our resident herpdude Richard Freeman who wrote back:

"The Alligator with deer in its mouth was real. The 28 foot 'gator was bad photoshop. The biggest 'gator ever recorded was 19 feet 6 inches and shot in Louisiana in 1890. The biggest in recent years was about 15 feet.
The only crocodilian reliably measured at over 28 feet was a 28 foot 4 inch Indo-pacific croc."

I would like someone with a knowledge of North American deer to take a look at the first two alligator pictures and try to give us a more reliable size estimate.

MICHAEL MALONE: Sweet Home Alabama

The bloggo is beginning to do the job that I originally intended: it is spreading the word of the CFZ's singular take on cryptozoology, animal welfare, natural history and the other stuff we do, and making contact with like minded folks across the globe. As a result, the CFZ family is expanding rapidly. Yesterday I received an e-mail from a bloke called Michael Malone: were we interested in a series of reports about the cryptozoology of Alabama and his hunt for out-of-place alligators? Well, of course we are and I told him so. Last night I came back from the pub after a convivial evening with our Texas contingent and I found this waiting for me.

I know that Michael is preparing a series of reports for us, but this initial one was too good to ignore....




I've been exploring the Flint River in Madison County, Alabama for years. It's home to several endangered species but nothing remarkable (Alabama Snail Darter; a tiny fish, for one). In the past, Big Foot sightings along the river were common but with population growth along the river, I doubt anything like a Big Foot could still be in the area.

The Alligators are all in Wheeler Lake, created by damming the Tennessee River as it passes through North Alabama. I've just started exploring the swamps in the area.

Supposedly the Alligators all come from a misguided effort to protect the species in the 70's. About 50 young 'gators were released into Wheeler Lake in an effort to control beaver populations. They were released by a well-meaning politician who didn't go through the correct channels. At least that's the story; I can not find out who released them or why. If true, and it is generally accepted as such, then the expectation was they would survive a year or two, reduce the beaver population and be captured and returned to the south or die in a harsh winter.

That didn't happen. They attempted to capture them in the 80s but didn't get them all. Best guess by the people who run the wildlife refuge is that 50+ of them may still live on the lake with another 20+ moved off the lake to other areas. None are expected to be more than four feet long.

The problem with that is there is a known Alligator, known as stumpy (see photograph), living off the refuge on a nearby army base. It's take to calling a large water impound its home and the water is artificially warmed by outflow from the base. Stumpy is nearly 10 feet long and is so named because he's missing a good portion of his tail. He crawls out onto a test range every so often and the army photographers snap his pictures. It's assumed that this large 'gator is a released pet that found a niche in which to live and is protected by the security on the base.

What haven't been found are nests or successful breeding populations. The rumors persist; far too many to just be released pets. We've had some mighty cold winters since the initial releases. What I hope to do is find and mark via GPS a few locations where the 'gators live this summer, try and find nesting areas now that the babies should have hatched and the mommies aren't going to be aggressively protecting them, then return in the fall to known sites and see how they are preparing for winter. Lots of theories but no proof.

Along the way, I'm going to keep my eyes open for other strangeness. The Flint River Big Foot supposedly migrated to Wheeler Lake and have been 'seen' swimming the Tennessee River in the recent past. I have my doubts about that; the river is quite wide and quickly flowing in the area. But hey, I'm going into places Fishermen don't go, so who knows?

Besides, on my first trip into the backwaters I'm fairly sure I saw a small (>1foot) 'gator jump off a log into the water (okay, fall off the log; 'gators aren't great jumpers) but not before I could get close enough to photograph or even confirm what I think I saw. And more importantly and fun, I got attacked by an angry mallard mama that didn't like me interrupting her evening swim with her ducklings. I didn't know ducks could swim underwater! Cool experience to learn!

Pictures are forthcoming and I'll write up my first trip soon. Thanks for your interest!

RICHARD FREEMAN: Giant Crocodiles - the supreme predator

Humans are habitual exaggerators. If we can make something bigger, fiercer, faster, more cunning, or more dangerous to man, then we will. We can see this simply by looking at the cinema. Films like Jaws, Anaconda, Alligator, Grizzly and Piranha all turn animals into monsters hell bent on destruction. The creatures of these films seem to exist for no other reason than to eat humans in industrial quantities. Of course exaggerating one’s encounters with wild beasts is an ego boost and makes for a good story, thus legends are born.

But is this true with crocodiles? Certainly some are man-eaters. Certainly some reach enormous sizes. But the question is just how big? Perhaps, in the case of crocodiles it’s just as well that “the ones that got away” did get away.

The record for the biggest reliably measured crocodile is something few can agree on. Some say that it was a 20.3 ft (6.2 m) shot in the Fly River, Papua New Guinea. Others disagree. Some say it was an 8.64 m (28 foot, 4 inch) male shot on the MacArthur Bank of the Norman River, Queensland, Australia in 1957 by Mrs. Kris Pawloski. The mammoth body was too big to move but was photographed, although, sadly, the photograph was lost in 1968. However, Mr. Ron Pawloski was a recognised expert on crocodiles and carefully measured the specimen. He was astounded at its size (having previously measured 10,287 specimens) and having found none to be larger than 5.5m (18 feet).

Dr Graham Webb, crocodile expert and owner of Crocodylus Park in Australia believes Ron’s story. Dr Webb says…”I spent three days talking with Ron and everything else he told me about crocodiles turned out to be very precise indeed. I can’t imagine him fabricating something like this.”

This giant was never weighed because of the impossibility of moving its immense carcass, but conservative estimates put it at a weight of two tons. Other estimates have produced a figure of three tons or more!

Another infamous giant was witnessed in the 1950s by rubber plantation owner James Montgomery. Montgomery’s plantation was near the Segama River in North Borneo. He claims to have shot twenty specimens between 6 and 8 metres in length (20-26 feet) to ensure the safety of workers who washed their laundry at the river.

One particular crocodile dwarfed even these. The local Seluka tribe believed that it was "The Father of the Devil" and threw silver coins into the water to appease it, bringing to mind the dragon hordes of legend.

Investigating, Montgomery found the beast in question hauled out on to a sandbank. The crocodile filled the whole bank and had the end of its tail in the water. Wisely deciding to leave the monster well alone Montgomery retreated. Returning later he found that the sand bank on which the creature had been basking was 9 metres (30 feet) across indicating that the creature must have been in excess of ten metres (33 feet) in length.

Borneo is giant crocodile world HQ with many stories of vast reptiles emanating from it. Back in the mid 1800s British explorer Spencer St. John wrote of such giants in his book Life in the Forest of the Far East.

“The Linggar River is famous for it’s alligators (crocodiles) which are both large and fierce. Alligators sometimes attain to a very large size. I have never measured one above seventeen feet six inches, but I saw a well known animal, the terror of the Siol branch of the Sarawak (River), that must have been at least twenty four or twenty five feet long.”

In 1956 the District Officer of Simanggang, who had the wonderful name of Abang Haji Husaini bin Datuk Haji Abdul Rashid, formed a crocodile hunting club with other government officers. Crocodile attacks had become commonplace along the Lupar in the 50s and the club was intended to curb the menace. In six months ten crocodiles were shot. The largest was fired upon near Pasir Tekalong. After being shot it dived. Three days later its body emerged. It was twenty-four feet long.

The great naturalist Charles Gould, who wrote the cryptozoological book “Mythical Monsters”(some 70 years before the term cryptozoology was coined) was well aware of giant crocodiles. A friend of his, Mr. Dennys - a resident of Singapore - told him of a 9 metre (30 foot) crocodile that haunted a tidal creek that ran through the city in the 1880s. Another colleague, Mr. Gregory - the Surveyor General of Queensland - informed him that Australia’s northern rivers were home to crocodiles as long as a whale boat (28 feet).

Another giant alive today lives in the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary in Orissa State in eastern India. It is over seven metres (23 feet) in length and three other animals in the same sanctuary have been reported as having achieved a length of over six metres (20 feet).

Australia too still harbours giants. Malcolm Douglas, filmmaker and owner of the Broome Crocodile Park encountered such a leviathan in a northern Australian river in 1987.

“We call him the “hippo”. He dwarfs everything else I`ve ever seen. Compared with him the 16 foot 4 inch croc we did catch looked like a twelve footer…once we did have him alongside a net. The corks were three feet apart and his length covered eight corks along the net. Maybe a little more.”

This would have made “Hippo” at least 7.5 metres (25 feet) long.

In 1929 Claude Le Roy used gelignite to blow up a 7.5 metre (25 foot) crocodile in a hole just below Hartley’s Creek crocodile farm north of Cairns.

Another 7.5 metre (25 foot) monster terrorised the Staaten River for fifty years. Known as the Wyabba monster, the local Aborigines believed that it could never die, as it was part of their dreaming. Though shot at many times, the croc always shrugged off the bullets and carried on as normal. It was finally put paid to by hunter Peter Cole in the mid 1950s.

An even larger specimen persists today. At over 8 metres (around 28 feet) it inhabits the Goyder river swamps of northern Arnhem Land.

In former times such giant would have been more common. Hunting in the first half of the 20th Century reduced the number of “salties”, but since their protection in the early 1970s the species has made a spectacular comeback in Australia. Soon there may be more reports like these of giant crocs in protected areas.

The largest specimens - of a truly mind boggling size - have been met with not in rivers but in the open sea. The Indopacific is the most pelagic of all crocodiles having been encountered hundreds of miles from land. Larger than the biggest predatory shark (the great white at a maximum of 6 meters) it has nothing except man to fear.

One such sea-going encounter took place in The Gulf of Bengal in 1860. The crew and passengers of the ship "Nemesis" observed a giant crocodile at close range. One of the witnesses was the writer W.H.Marshall who described it in his book "Four Years in Burma".

"As the Nemesis was proceeding onwards towards our destination our attention was directed to an alligator of enormous length, which was swimming along against the tide `(here very strong), at a rate which was perfectly astonishing. I never beheld such a monster. It paused within a very short distance from us, it's head and nearly half it's body out of the water. I should think that it could not have been less than five and forty feet long measured from the head to the extremity of the tail, and I am confident that it was traveling at a rate of at least thirty miles an hour."

It should be noted that this animal would be an Indopacific crocodile and NOT an alligator. Alligators only occur in China and North America. However, early European colonials often used incorrect names for animals and these have stuck. In Australia the Indopacific crocodile is often referred to as an alligator and there is even an Alligator River. In Belize jaguars are called "tigers" and spider-sonkeys "baboons".

In his 1965 book In the Wake of the Sea Serpents Dr Bernard Heuvelmans catalogues reports of giant, unknown marine animals from all over the world. He puts the sightings into several categories or types of “sea serpent”. One he calls the “Marine Saurian”. It is said to resemble a gigantic crocodile, up to 18 meters (60 feet) in long and is seen in the open ocean.

Heuvelmans postulates this could be the descendent of some prehistoric marine reptiles such as a mososaur or pliosaur. I would think that these sightings would, more likely, refer to massive Indopacific crocodiles observed at sea. Perhaps when pulling a long wake behind them, their size has been exaggerated in the eyes of the witnesses.

Another man who mistakenly referred to Indopacific crocodiles as “alligators” was British sea captain and trader Alexander Hamilton. Whilst in the East Indies in 1705 his men were disturbed by “alligators” whilst working on a stage rigged alongside their ship. They fired musket balls at the creatures but could not penetrate their armour. One lucky shot finally struck a creature in the eye and entered the brain. The following day they came across the carcass on the shore. They measured it at 27.5 feet.

On 9th of March 1945, Flight Sergeant Selwyn Day saw and photographed a huge crocodile shot at the mouth of the Howard River, Northern Territories. The man who shot it said it was 28 feet long.

The crocodile is suspended on a winch attached to the back of a lorry. Two men flank it but are further back in the picture so they are of little use in estimating its size. I would say it was closer to 20 feet than 28 myself.

It is fitting indeed that the other species of crocodile with a claim to having attained monstrous proportions inhabits the dark continent of Africa. This cradle of man has a deep hold on our subconscious. If giant reptiles are to exist anywhere it must be here. Despite the depredations of the white man and the homespun wars and famines, the heart of the African continent still remains an enigma.

The Nile crocodile is the world's second largest reptile and has long been known as a man-eater. Worshipped by the Egyptians as "Sebek" the God of the Nile, and by innumerable sub-Saharan tribes, this is indeed a frightening animal.

The largest `official` specimen was shot in 1905 at Mwanza, 100km east of Emin Pasha Gulf by the Duke of Mecklenburg. It measured 6.6m (21 feet) in length. This monster, however, pales in comparison to some of the other crocodiles that have been reported by some naturalists and explorers.

The renowned wildlife photographer Cherry Kearton and his friend James Barns observed an 8.2m (27 foot) crocodile basking on a sand bank in the Semlik River. The size was estimated against other crocodiles and nearby objects. A photograph was published in one of Kearton`s books "In the land of the Lion" and apparently the crocodile in question dwarfs its companions. (The author found a copy of this book in a second hand bookshop in York. The only photo of a crocodile in the book has no other crocodiles for comparison so is of little use. The author’s copy is a sixth edition, however, and may not contain the same picture as Kearton`s original.)

A 7.93m (26 foot) specimen was claimed by a Captain Riddick who is alleged to have shot it at Lake Ksoga, and another of similar size was killed on the Mbaka River in 1903. This was recorded by the experienced field naturalist Hans Besser. At first he mistook the reptile for a huge canoe half drawn out of the water. It was 7.6m (24 feet) long but part of the tail was missing! (Perhaps it had been bitten off by an even bigger crocodile!) The body was 93cm (3 feet 6 inches) high and was 4.6m (14.72 feet) in girth. The skull was 1.4m (4.48 feet) long.

In 1954 Guy de la Ruwiere saw a 7-meter (23 foot) crocodile in the Maika marshes in the northeast Congo. The animal lifted its massive head out of the water several times. It caused a huge wave when it dived beneath the surface.

One must be careful when estimating size. My colleague Dr Lars Thomas was told by some hunters, that they had shot a 35-foot crocodile in northern Australia. Dr Thomas had the men show him the carcass and it turned out to be only 18 feet long. The men had been quite sincere, but had not brought a tape measure with them.

World famous explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell heard tales of ten-metre (33 foot) crocodiles in Ethiopia’s Blue Nile Gorge but saw none above 6m (20 feet) himself.

One man who is very adept at estimating size is Rupert Bunce. Mr. Bunce had been a soldier in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the early 70s and one of his jobs was to intercept terrorists from neighboring Zambia. The easiest way to tell if a man was indeed a terrorist was by his boots, Zambian boots being different from Rhodesian ones. On one occasion a suspect ran into the water in the southern end of Lake Kariba in an attempt to swim away from the patrols. The ill-fated fellow was seized and bitten in two by an immense crocodile. Rupert and his companions opened fire on the giant reptile with high-powered SLR rifles. These weapons can send a bullet through a brick wall at the range of a mile. Not even the armour plate of such a monster could withstand this barrage. Once the titan lay still they drew alongside in a boat. When dragged ashore and cut open the luckless victim's legs were retrieved, he was indeed a Zambian. I asked Mr. Bunce how large the crocodile was. To my amazement he told me it was between 25 and 30 feet long (I had been interviewing him on a totally unrelated matter when we strayed onto his years in Africa). Mr. Bunce was sure of this as he was used to estimating distance and size as part of his job. Unfortunately none of the men knew the zoological importance of the specimen and no photos were taken of samples kept.

In 1960 Berkeley Rice recorded the capture of a giant crocodile in his book Enter Gambia. The 27-foot creature was caught and shot near Diabugu. Crocodiles along the River Gambia seldom exceed ten feet so this one was a monster. Sadly no one knows what became of the body.

The largest reported crocodiles on the African continent hail from that last great African frontier, the Congo rainforest, known to the Lingala and other Congolese people as "Mahamba". This lord of the jungle is said to reach a shocking 15m (50 feet) in length!

In the late 19th Century Belgian explorer John Reinhardt Werner reported sightings of giant crocodiles that lend some weight to the terrifying folk tales of the native population.

Whilst traveling down the Congo on the Aja, a 12.8m (42 foot) steam launch, Werner stopped at a sand bank to shoot ducks. He shot one and pursued others over a low ridge when he saw:

..."The biggest crocodile I have ever seen. Comparing him to the Aja which lay in deep water some three hundred yards off, I reckoned him to be quite fifty feet long: whilst the centre of the saw-ridged back must have been some four feet off the ground where his belly rested".

Werner stupidly took another shot at the ducks (they had run out of meat on the ship), and alarmed the monster, which made off into the water. The creature was also witnessed by a native boy that Werner had with him.

Around three days later Werner saw another vast specimen. The Aja had embedded itself in a sandbank when it was heaved up out of the water by something causing a commotion under the ship...

"I saw an enormous crocodile - longer I am certain than the Aja - rush across the bank and tumble into the deep water beyond. I never before saw such a large crocodile move so fast, and I had no time to get a shot at him. He must have heard us coming and was trying to make for the deep water on our side of the bank, when we ran into him and hammed him onto the sand. We struck him, moving at a rate of four miles per hour, but during the short time he was in view I could not see that he bore any marks of the collision!"

It would be as well now to pause and reflect on the dimensions of such a huge crocodile. A 7.5m (25 foot) creature would be an awesome animal in the two to three ton weight bracket. A 15-metre (50 foot) animal would be a colossal weight. When an animal doubles its size its weight increases eightfold. This is because length, breadth, depth and height have all been doubled. If we take the conservative estimate of two tons for the weight of a 7.5m specimen then an animal 15 metres in length would weigh in the region of fifteen tons - three times the weight of an average elephant! If crocodiles of these dimensions do exist then they are the largest macro-predators on the planet. Most of the great whales are plankton feeders and even the toothed sperm whale feeds mainly on small fish and squid (the giant squid forms only 1% of its diet and weighs far less than the sperm whale in any case). If they do indeed exist, there is no animal on earth that could withstand an attack from one of these giant saurians.

So far no skull, bones, or hide of any modern day crocodile approaching the length of the Mahamba has been found. The beast could be purely myth or exaggeration. The fossil record however, shows us that crocodiles can reach such vast proportions. In its current war torn, tourist-imperiling state it is unlikely that the Congo will give up its secrets. Mahamba awaits some latter day Professor Challenger to discover the truth behind it.

It is obvious that we are not dealing with whole races of gargantuan crocodiles, but a few massively large individuals. If they were prehistoric survivors of a giant race then many more specimens would have turned up!

So what is it that causes certain crocodiles to become so large? I believe that it is a combination of several factors.

Both Nile and Indopacific crocodiles have large distributions. Within their range many sub-species can exist and these may display large variations in size. A striking example is found along the Aswa River in Northern Uganda. Crocodiles here reach sexual maturity at between 1.5 and 1.8m (4.9 to 5.9 feet) and never exceed 2.1m (7 feet). This is less than half the average size. This tiny race has an unusually large head at 30.5cm long. This should yield a total length of 2.13 metres but the Aswa crocodiles fall far short of this. It seems that this is a product of prolonged periods of aestivation; the retarded development being due to inactivity. It would seem that this is a strategy that has been developed to avoid food shortages.

Other areas such as Lake Malawi, The Congo, parts of Tanzania, (such as the Grumati River) and the Semliki River in Uganda/Zaire produce larger than average specimens.

Where populations of these larger than average animals have remained undisturbed, occasional freaks will be thrown up within the genetic variation that are much larger than the average. The average man is five foot nine inches tall but a lot of the population exceed this. Most big cities have several seven-foot individuals and the record human height is eight foot 11.9 inches. A large population of "Big Crocodiles" most of whom would reach 5 metres (17 feet) could throw up 7 or 8-metre (23-26 foot) specimens occasionally.

Diet is also a factor. Once it was believed that very big crocodilians were immensely old. It was thought that crocodilians grow roughly twelve inches a year until they achieve the length of 3 metres (10 feet) when the growth rate radically slows down. By this logic, to be immensely huge a crocodile must have achieved a great age.

Actually, the greatest authenticated age for a crocodilian is a fifty six year old American alligator (Alligator missippipiensis) at Dresden Zoo.

A crocodile of unknown species died at Yetkatrinaburg in Russia a few years ago at a reputed age of over seventy but this was never, as far as I am aware, properly authenticated.

However, in a paradox, unlike mammals and birds, reptiles seem to live longer in the wild than in captivity.

Protein intake seems to have more to do with large size than age. In the early 1970s, the Louisiana department of Wildlife and Fisheries made some interesting discovery relating to diet and growth rate in the American alligator. Two groups of juveniles were reared on different diets. One was fed coypu (a large South American rodent Myocastor coypu) flesh and the other fish. Nutritional analyses showed that coypu contained 14.9% crude protein, 2.1% crude fat, 0.1% crude fiber, and 45% moisture.

Fish, on the other hand, contained 9.9% protein, 4.0% fat, 1.0% fiber, and 60.6% moisture. Specimens fed on coypu grew 20% larger than their fish fed peers over a period of three years. They were also more active and aggressive.

Food with more protein content causes accelerated growth. The Aswa crocodiles were tiny due to aestivation brought on by seasonal food shortages. In other areas where protein-rich food is plentiful all year, the average size of the crocodile population was much greater. So, if we conceive of a population of naturally big crocodiles, feeding on protein-rich prey, that occasionally produces a giant freak, whose size is increased still further by its diet, then one can conceive of a truly vast animal.

Tropical seas and teeming rain forests would offer such an abundance of prey. It can be no coincidence that the largest reported crocodiles are seen in these very habitats.

It should be noted that the Indian gharial (Gavialis gangetius) has also been credited with huge sizes. Lorenze Hagenbeck, son of the famous Karl Hagenbeck - world famous animal dealer - cited one such account. One of his friends was said to have shot a 9-metre (30 foot) gharial whose bloated carcass looked like a stranded whale! Reports of such giants in this species seem unknown today.

We will leave the last word on giant crocodiles to that gallant Victorian lady explorer Mary Kingsley, who once measured a Nile crocodile twenty-two feet three inches in length.

“Stay-at-home people will always discredit great measurements, but experienced bushmen do not, and after all, if it amuses the stay-at-homes to do so, by all means let them. They have dull lives of it and it does not hurt you.”

GUEST BLOGGER RICHARD FREEMAN: Crocodile Cults. Part 3: Australiasia and the New World

Guest Blogger time for Richard Freeman again. As you are probably beginning to guess, the boy Freeman has crocodiles on the brain. He is travelling up to the north of England this week to give a talk at a newly opened spooky bar in South Shields. However he has left us with a treat - a three part article about crocodile cults around the world.

Papuans along the Sepik River in New Guinea credit the crocodile as the great creator of all things. He cased the first dry land to appear from the primal waters. He formed a crack in the earth and mated with it. From that crack, all animals and men came forth. When he opened his jaws, the upper jaw became the sky and the first dawn occurred.

The Itamul people also tell of how crocodiles roamed around the new earth founding villages. They carve crocodile heads on their canoes and statues of crocodile headed men.

Skulls of crocodiles are often kept in men’s cult houses and given offerings of betel nuts. During the initiation of Itamul youths into manhood, they are said to be swallowed by the primal crocodile who spits them out as men. Their shoulders and torsos are subjected to ritual scarification. These, to the uninitiated, are the marks of the crocodile’s teeth.

Crocodiles are powerful totems and the consequences of breaking the totemic relationship can be fatal. A well-known folk hero is Yali of Sor, leader of the Madang cargo cult. Whilst in the jungle a comrade of Yali killed a crocodile. Without the protection of the totem Yalis` friend became lost in the bush and died.

In Northern Australia there is an Aboriginal legend of how the crocodile first came into being. The story goes that a group of people were being transported across a river in a boat. An old man was waiting to be taken across the river. The boat came and went, picking up more people, but ignoring the old man. Eventually he became so angry he leapt into the water and turned himself into a crocodile. From then on crocodiles have always attacked boats.

The Gunwinggu people of Arnhen land believe that the Liverpool River was chewed out of the land by a giant crocodile who rose up inland behind the mountains and proceeded to munch his way out to sea.

Another Dreamtime story has the crocodile or Gumangan and the plover Birik-birik creating fire. The pair travelled together carrying with them the world’s only fire sticks that they rubbed together to create fire. One day they camped by a river and the crocodile decided to go hunting. The lazy plover declined to join his friend so the crocodile instructed him to make a fire whilst he was gone so that they could cook their meal.

When crocodile returned he found the plover asleep and no fire lit. He was so angry that he seized the fire sticks and threw them into the river. The plover quickly grabbed the sticks and flew away into the hills. From then on crocodiles lived near the water and plovers in the hills.

Oddly the bone-idle plover is thought of as the hero of this story for saving the fire sticks!

THE NEOTROPICS

The Olmec culture of Eastern Mexico had a crocodile deity. It was associated with good harvests. They seem to have passed on crocodile worship to other peoples. The Mayan god of death Ah, Puch was portrayed as a crocodile. Despite being a death god his image is also associated with crops. The Myans saw him as carrying the world upon his back.

Later the Aztecs still held the link between crocodiles and crop fertility. Their crocodile god Cipactli was an agriculture deity. Another crocodile god Tlaloc was thought to be responsible for bringing rain. This last facet is of particular interest when we remember how dragons are associated with the creation of rain and the control of water in the Orient.

William Homes, a 19th century anthropologist, lived with the Chiriqui tribe in Panama. He was able to trace the development of their ancestral crocodile god into a dragon like beast akin to the creatures of western myth. The monster decorated much of their contemporary pottery.

Further south the Montana people of Peru believe that carrying a crocodile tooth protects them from poison. Several tribes from the Pomeroon River basin in Guyana believe that they are descended from caiman. The story goes that the Sun was a keen fisherman and was upset that the fish in his ponds kept disappearing. He appointed the caiman to guard the ponds, unaware that the caiman was actually the one stealing the fish. When he discovered the caiman’s chicanery the sun slashed his back creating his scales. To make amends the caiman offered to give his daughter to the Sun as a wife. The caiman carved out a woman from a tree trunk. His friend the woodpecker hollowed out a vagina for the woman. When the Sun, a snake, emerged from the woodpecker’s hole he realised the woman was fertile. The carved woman bore the Sun twins who ultimately gave rise to humanity.

NORTH AMERICA

Only two species of crocodilian occur naturally in North America. The American crocodile, at the very north of it’s range reaches southern Florida. The American Alligator is more widespread but is still confined to the warm southeastern states. There is one well known legend among the Choctaw Indians.

There once was a man who had very bad luck when he hunted. Although the other hunters in his village were always able to bring home deer, this man never succeeded.

He was the strongest of the men in the village and he knew the forest well, but his luck was never good. Each time he came close to the deer, something bad would happen. A jay would call from the trees and the deer would take flight. He would step on dry leaves and the deer would run before he could shoot. His arrow would glance off a twig and miss the deer. It seemed there was no end to his troubles. Finally the man decided he would go deep into the swamps where there were many deer. He would continue hunting until he either succeeded or lost his own life. The man hunted for three days without success. At noon on the fourth day, he came to a place in the swamp where there had once been a deep pool. The late summer had been a very dry one; however, and now there was only hot sand where once there had been water. There, resting on the sand was a huge alligator. It had been without water for many days. It was so dry and weak that it was almost dead. Although the hunter's own luck had been bad, he saw that this alligator's luck was even worse."My brother," said the man, "I pity you." Then the alligator spoke. Its voice was so weak that the man could barely hear it. "Is there water nearby?" said the alligator."Yes," said the man. "There is a deep pool of clear cool water not far from here. It is just beyond that small stand of trees to the west. There the springs never dry up and the water always runs. If you go to that place, you will survive."

"I cannot travel there by myself," said the alligator. "I am too weak. Come close so I can talk to you. I will not harm you. Help me and I will also help you."

The hunter was afraid of the great alligator, but he came a bit closer. As soon as he was close, the alligator spoke again. "I know that you are a hunter but the deer always escape from you. If you help me, I will make you a great hunter. I will give you the power to kill many deer." This sounded good to the hunter, but he still feared the alligator's great jaws. "My brother," the man said, "I believe that you will help me, but you are still an alligator. I will carry you to that place, but you must allow me to bind your legs and bind your jaws so that you can do me no harm."

Immediately the alligator rolled over to its back and held up its legs. "Do as you wish," the alligator said. The man bound the alligator's jaws firmly with his sash. He made a bark strap and bound the alligator's legs together. Then, with his great strength, he lifted the big alligator to his shoulders and carried it to the deep cool water where the springs never dried. He placed the alligator on its back close to the water and he untied its feet. He untied the alligator's jaws, but still held those jaws together with one hand. Then he jumped back quickly. The alligator rolled into the pool and dove underwater. It stayed under a long time and then came up. Three more times the alligator dove, staying down longer each time. At last it came to the surface and floated there, looking up at the hunter who was seated high on the bank."You have done as you said you would," said the alligator. "You have saved me. Now I shall help you, also. Listen closely to me now and you will become a great hunter. Go now into the woods with your bow and arrows. Soon you will meet a small doe. That doe has not yet grown large enough to have young ones. Do not kill that deer. Only greet it and then continue on and your power as a hunter will increase."

The alligator continued, "Soon after that you will meet a large doe. That doe has fawns and will continue to have young ones each year. Do not kill that deer. Greet it and continue on and you will be an even greater hunter." Then he said, "Next you will meet a small buck. That buck will father many young ones. Do not kill it. Greet it and continue on and your power as a hunter will become greater still. " The alligator then said, "At last you will meet an old buck, larger than any of the others. Its time on Earth has been useful. Now it is ready to give itself to you. Go close to that deer and shoot it. Then greet it and thank it for giving itself to you. Do this and you will be the greatest of hunters."

The hunter did as the alligator said. He went into the forest and met the deer, killing only the old buck. He became the greatest of the hunters in his village. He told this story to his people. Many of them understood the alligator's wisdom and hunted in that way. That is why the Choctaws became great hunters of the deer. As long as they remembered to follow the alligator's teachings, they were never hungry.