Crocodile attacks

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Nile crocodile

Crocodile attacks of people are not uncommon in places where crocodiles are native. Out of all wild predators who attack humans for food, the Saltwater and Nile Crocodiles are the most prolific and dangerous. Each year, hundreds of deadly attacks occur in the central ranges of Africa and Southeast Asia. Crocodile attacks on people from regions where those animals are not native usually make news headlines.

1 Background
2 Precautions and information
3 Some well-reported attacks
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Background

An accurate count of annual crocodile attacks on humans is difficult to obtain. Many of the areas in which humans and large crocodiles come into contact are remote, impoverished, or in areas of political unrest. Thus, crocodile attacks are not always reported to local authorities, and some reports are difficult to verify. However every year it is estimated hundreds of humans are killed by crocodiles.

The most deaths in a single crocodile attack incident may have occurred during the Battle of Ramree Island, on February 19, 1945, in what is now Burma. Nine hundred soldiers of an Imperial Japanese Army unit, in an attempt to retreat from the Royal Navy and rejoin a larger battalion of the Japanese infantry, crossed through ten miles of mangrove swamps which contained Saltwater Crocodiles. Twenty Japanese soldiers were captured alive by the British, and almost five hundred are known to have escaped Ramree. Many of the remainder may have been eaten by the crocodiles, although gunfire from the British troops was undoubtedly a contributory factor.

[edit] Precautions and information

Crocodiles become more aggressive during the mating season

Crocodiles can move fast over short distances on land
Crocodiles are adept at learning and memorising routines, such as the location of nearby campers or the routes of travellers.
In water, crocodiles tend to drag their prey under and drown them
Crocodiles can slow down their metabolism, to the extent that a tree with an intruder hiding in its branches may be guarded continuously for several weeks, without breaks for food.
Crocodiles have strong muscles holding their jaws shut, but weak muscles for opening them
There is a sensitive flap in a crocodile's throat, known as the glottis, which they use for breathing. As a result, similarly to some other predators, forcing the arm into the throat may encourage release, although this is not certain by any means.

(Source for some of the above: [1])

Sometimes in attacks, when they bite and hold on, they spin their body to weaken their prey (the 'death roll').
Most attacks by large Nile Crocodiles and Saltwater Crocodiles on humans are said to be complete within a few seconds.

[edit] Some well-reported attacks

Saltwater Crocodile

Since 1990, at least a dozen people from western countries have been killed by crocodiles.

On March 19, 2006, University of Washington medical professor Richard Root, M.D., age 68, who had moved to Botswana for humanitarian reasons to alleviate a shortage of physicians, was killed on a wildlife tour of the Limpopo River when a crocodile emerged from the river, grabbed Dr. Root and pulled him under. Dr. Root was not seen again.
In September 2005, Russell Harris, a 37-year-old British engineer, was killed by a large saltwater crocodile while snorkeling off Picnic Beach in Australia [2]. His body was recovered.
In August 2005, a 60-year-old man was dragged underwater by a crocodile in northeastern Australia.
In October 2002, 23-year old German student Isobel von Jordan was killed by a saltwater crocodile in Kakadu National Park, Australia.
In April 2002, 35-year-old British musician Richard Shadwell was killed by a crocodile in Borneo.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Edwards, Hugh Crocodile Attack/Dramatic True Stories of Fatal and Near-Fatal Encounters Between Humans and Crocodiles ISBN 0-06-016121-3 (1989)
Fitzgerald, Patrick Croc and Gator Attacks ISBN 0-516-23514-1 (2000)