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How does a crocodile turn bright orange? If you ask Snappy, the 8-foot crocodile at Roaming Reptiles animal park in Australia, he’ll tell you the secret is attacking a water filter in your enclosure.
“Our guess is that it is something in the water such as iron or tannins from leaves or some red algae, that oxidises when it dries,” Webb said.
Keepers say he’s still healthy and acting as lively as ever, so it seems like he’s just trying out a new look more than anything else.
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Fake Science is a blog that teaches fiction in the most delightfully silly ways. Visiting the blog will teach you to prevent hangovers by watering down your beer and what your state’s speed limit is when it comes to the velocity of a sneeze.
Link Via Laughing Squid
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When I was a kid and Crocodile Dundee was popular (I predate Steve Irwin’s fame by about a decade, apparently), I was terrified that I’d find myself in some isolated swamp full of crocodiles, and that those crocodiles would, of course, want to eat me. I was maybe too young to watch the movie. Anyway, it turns out my horrible nightmare about crocodiles politely chewing me up was not only improbable but also inaccurate: crocodiles can’t even chew.
Yes, it’s true. Despite their fearsome reputation, crocodiles can’t chew. But that’s not to say they won’t kill you—in fact, death by crocodile is probably more agonizing precisely because they’re unable to masticate.
Great! I feel way better about this. Get the details of crocodiles’ etiquette-free eating habits on Mental_floss. Link
Image: MartinRe
YouTube user MorRokko dressed her pet dwarf caiman in an Iron Man costume. She writes:
I wuv my caimen. He is probably the only crocodilian in the world that would let me do this.
via Urlesque
This video shows crocodiles feeding on a dead antelope. Hippopotamuses wander up to lick the crocodiles, which the crocs tolerate because the hippos are so much larger and stronger. At the end of the video, you can see a baby hippo gnawing on the back of a very patient crocodile.
via Nerdcore
Crocodiles are great swimmers over short distances in shallow water, but their habitats stretch across the oceans. How did they travel such great distances? Zoologists at the University of Queensland think that they have answer: crocodiles waited for good waves to appear, and then bodysurfed over them to offshore islands.
After collecting data for a year, the team found that, before journeys of six miles (ten kilometers) or more, the reptiles would make use of outgoing tides, riding the surface currents that sweep water toward the mouths of rivers.
If the currents changed, the crocs would climb onto river banks or sit on riverbeds, waiting until surfing conditions improved.
The researchers then reanalyzed existing data on crocodiles in the open ocean. Those crocs were doing the same thing, the data show—using currents to body surf for 60 miles (100 kilometers) or more.
Link | Photo (unrelated): NPS
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A strange assortment of prehistoric crocodilyform fossils have been found in Africa. Crocodilyforms are ancient cousins of today’s alligators, crocodiles, and caimans.
For instance, the rodent-like RatCroc had buckteeth for rooting through the ground after tubers or simple animals.
The flat-bodied PancakeCroc was the “ultimate sit-and-wait predator,” Sereno said. The animal would lie motionless and “wait for something stupid” to swim into its rail-thin, 3-foot-long (0.9-meter-long) jaws, which were lined with rows of spiky teeth.
DuckCroc had a long, smooth, sensitive nose to poke through vegetation as well as hook-shaped teeth to snag frogs and small fish in shallow water.
And the plant-eating DogCroc had lanky legs that meant it was likely spry enough to run into the water if threatened.
By far the mightiest of the lot, BoarCroc was a 20-foot-long (6.1-meter-long) “saber-toothed cat in armor” that ate dinosaurs for dinner.
DuckCroc and DogCroc were previously known to scientists, and the rest are new discoveries by a team headed by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago. The expedition found fossils of all five in Niger and Morocco. Link (with video) -via Digg
(image credit: Mike Hettwer/National Geographic)
A crocodile who received major facial damage after being hit by a car got facial reconstructive surgery to treat his injuries. The vets at the Miami Metrozoo used metal rods to put the animals face back together and they are now referring to the animal lovingly as “Robo Croc.”
“The vets installed four steel plates with 41 screws into the crocodile’s skull in a procedure that’s amazing zoo professionals.
“I’ve been at the zoo 30 years and it’s one of the most incredible procedures I’ve ever been a part of,” said Ron Magill, spokesman for Miami MetroZoo.
That’s because the 250-pound American Crocodile measuring 10-feet, 2-inches long had been left for dead in the Keys on Dec. 19, 2008, with traumatic injuries: its skull crushed and fractures throughout its body.”
If you are interested in this piece you might like reading about 6 Crazy Veterinary Procedures.
Bill Zeman’s daughter is the Tiny Art Director. She tells him what to draw and then tells him just exactly how much she hates it. Bill has been recording her comments and posting them with his art since she was two and a half.
Here’s a sample:
The Brief: Purple Gatorade [Rosie's Fish]
The Critique: Dad, that doesn’t look like Purple Gatorade. Only mine looks like Purple Gatorade. You’re going to scan it, and then when you’re done with it, it’s going to be scrappled up and thrown in the garbage. And then mine will be our final picture.
Job Status: Rejected
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by bz.
