Beware: Crocodile season!
Crocodiles will soon hit head lines again as the temperatures rise and our summer rains begin to fall steadily - that’s if people do not follow a few basic guidelines provided below on how to avoid conflict with this reptile that remains the supreme predator of Africa’s rivers.
Of the 23 species of crocodiles, Africa has three.
The crocodile found in Swaziland is known as the ‘Nile’ crocodile.
Crocodiles are highly specialised and patient ambush predators with mottled shades of green, grey and black, which makes them almost impossible to detect in the water while they lie in wait for their prey.
In addition to their colour, their streamline shape, webbed feet and positioning of the eyes, ears and nostrils on the top of the head make them the ultimate aquatic ambush predator. This enables them to have full senses of their surroundings while their bodies remain well hidden below the water surface.
Prey
When potential prey approaches the water, the hunting crocodile will submerge below the water and steadilly sneak up on the unsuspecting prey, which could include pigs, cattle, buffalo, and humans. The crocodile will occasionally raise its eyes slightly above the water’s surface to assess its approach before submerging again and moving closer. When the target is in range, the crocodile will suddenly lunge forward in an incredible show of strength and speed, snapping its powerful jaws closed on the closest part of the targeted prey.
The victim will then be dragged into deeper water where it is drowned. The carcass (if a large animal) will be stored in the water until it decomposes. This aids the crocodile in tearing the carcass apart by rolling and twisting pieces of the body off before swallowing the limbs etc., washing it down with water. The bones and horns are then quickly digested by the gastric enzymes (stomach acids) which are the most acid recorded in any vertebrate animal.
Mated
Having mated, the female crocodile will lay 20-95 eggs into a nest in the sand, which she will cover and then guard against predators such as monitor lizards and mongooses. After two and a half to three months the eggs will hatch. The young crocodiles vary from 27 – 37cm in length and their sex is determined by the temperatures they have been exposed to in the nest as hormonal responses to the different temperatures determines the hatchling’s sex. This is a different mechanism to most other animals, where the sex is determined by the combination of X and Y chromosomes at the time of fertilization.
After the female has carried the young hatchlings to the water in her mouth, the hatchlings graduate from preying on small fish, insects and frogs to eventually being able to prey on animals as large as buffalo when they grow over four meters long.
It is believed that under natural conditions, approximately only 1-2 per cent of crocodile hatchlings survive to adulthood as they are heavily predated on by fish, monitor lizards, birds, snakes and predatory mammals while they are young.
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