EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Salty

Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), Family Crocodylidae
Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia

Explanation:  There be monsters here.  These are the turbid waters of the East Alligator River that runs through Kakadu National Park in Northern Territory, Australia.  

The East Alligator River is one of five major river systems found in Kakadu.  But it was misnamed in 1818 by its European discoverer, Captain Phillip Parker King, thinking he was seeing alligators, not crocodiles.  They are different beasts.

Saltwater (or estuarine) crocodiles are locally known as "salties" (by those whimsical Australians who also call freshwater crocodiles "freshies").  Salties swim well in freshwater rivers, billibongs (wetlands), brackish coastal marshes, and even in the salt water of the open ocean.  

Salties will feed on virtually anything they can clamp their vice-grip jaws onto, probably including unwary tourists at the water's edge.

How big do salties get?

As highlighted in a National Geographic special, one specimen caught in the Philippines apparently measured 21 feet (6.4 meters) and weighed 2,369 pounds (1,075 kg)!

In the Northern Territory of Australia, salties have been protected since 1971 because of previous severe declines from commercial hunting.  Although their eggs were still hunted, the population slowly increased until it is essentially fully recovered today.  However, there are still concerns for public safety, as this huge and powerful predator will not balk at taking humans as prey.   

Information:
     Fukuda, Y., G. Webb, C. Manolis, R. Delaney, M. Letnic, G. Lindner, and P. Whitehead. 2011. Recovery of saltwater crocodiles following unregulated hunting in tidal rivers of the Northern Territory, Australia. Journal of Wildlife Management 75(6):1253-1266.