OT Moat Monster

[mikeo80]

Here is another thought!! (Gasp, two in one day!!)

The USA has troops in Philippines. After Nuke exchange chaos would ensue. Some would surely survive, and try to help villagers.

SOOO...

http://news.yahoo.com/giant-crocodile-captured-alive-philippines-134625838.html

Think up a way to keep this guy in your arsenal. Talk about keeping the average intruder honest!!!!!

My $0.02

Mike

[waiting4something]

Here is another thought!! (Gasp, two in one day!!)

The USA has troops in Philippines. After Nuke exchange chaos would ensue. Some would surely survive, and try to help villagers.

SOOO...

http://news.yahoo.com/giant-crocodile-captured-alive-philippines-134625838.html

Think up a way to keep this guy in your arsenal. Talk about keeping the average intruder honest!!!!!

My $0.02

Mike

It's always cool to see massive size predators like this. It gives people hope for a more adventurous world. We always want to encounter giants and monstors of mythology, and a large man eater is the best we can realistically hope for. Man's quest to make a the world boring and diseased has made animals such as this croc a rare thing. We have no minotaurs, or hydra's to slay or hear tales of the terror they bring. The best we have are politicians, corporate ceo's, big league lawyers, pedophiles, etc.... The world truely lacks hope, so seeing giants such as this is FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

[Targan]

It's always cool to see massive size predators like this. It gives people hope for a more adventurous world. We always want to encounter giants and monstors of mythology, and a large man eater is the best we can realistically hope for. Man's quest to make a the world boring and diseased has made animals such as this croc a rare thing. We have no minotaurs, or hydra's to slay or hear tales of the terror they bring. The best we have are politicians, corporate ceo's, big league lawyers, pedophiles, etc.... The world truely lacks hope, so seeing giants such as this is FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

There are thousands of enormous crocodiles across northern Australia but I have to say, in the Australian outback there are countless varieties of critters that can kill you and most of them aren't very big at all. Over here it's the little monsters you have to worry about.

[waiting4something]

There are thousands of enormous crocodiles across northern Australia but I have to say, in the Australian outback there are countless varieties of critters that can kill you and most of them aren't very big at all. Over here it's the little monsters you have to worry about.

Yes, you live on a big poison planet over there. The Croc Hunter always made it sound like crocs are rare and the big ones are really rare however. what's the deal with that? Are crocs common or are they rare do to being moved out by people deciding they want to build a safe habit for their children next to the riverbank?

[Legbreaker]

The vast majority of Australians live nowhere near the Croc habitats, so in that sense they are relatively rare.
However, if you go wandering about in the tropics near a river, especially one that's just a bit brackish, and chances are you're going to have a very intimate and potentially deadly encounter with one. Australian salt water crocs are nothing like alligators - the salties have no qualms at all about taking down a fully grown water buffalo, let alone a stupid tourist who's out for a dawn stroll along the riverbank. Salties are FAST too. A horse will have a hard time outrunning one in a straight line over a short distance, but salties don't corner too well at speed. I've personally seen a 20 footer swim so fast to chase off a smaller salty it effectively walked on the water.

[Targan]

Crocodiles used to be widely hunted for their skins so the numbers of big crocs dropped sharply until the early 1970s when they became a protected species. Since then crocodile numbers have steadily increased. They're not uncommon at all. Freshwater crocodiles are like cayman, they're all but harmless. It's the Australian saltwater crocodile that's the monster. Much the same as that one they caught in the Philippines. Big, old, male Australian saltwater crocodiles can grow to in excess of 7 meters (23 feet) long and 1100kg (2420lbs) in weight.

Crocs are fairly rare near human habitations because not many people live in the far north of Australia. Its mostly fair dinkum vast, unfriendly wilderness up there. But they are seen around some towns like Broome, Darwin and Townsville. In the vast wilderness of Kakadu and in esturine areas along the northern coast you've got to be really careful. They are stealthy, patient and really fast when they are in the water or on the mud. There are at least a couple of hundred thousand salties roaming around up there. Once or twice a year we hear on the news of someone getting eaten by a croc. They scare the crap out of me.

[mikeo80]

There are thousands of enormous crocodiles across northern Australia but I have to say, in the Australian outback there are countless varieties of critters that can kill you and most of them aren't very big at all. Over here it's the little monsters you have to worry about.

I know you have the snakes, and spiders, and all of the other creepy crawly things that can kill you.....

BUT...

Targan, you've got to admit, it is way freaking cool to see something that looks like an early dinosaur come rising out of its' river to sun itself on the beach.

And, just as an aside, did you all notice that in this report they called this croc a "he"?

Unless there are obvious sexual differences between male and female crocs, such as differences between male and female lions, some one had to LOOK....

Now, that person had some REAL cahones!!! :D

My $0.02

Mike

[Targan]

I know you have the snakes, and spiders, and all of the other creepy crawly things that can kill you.....

BUT...

Targan, you've got to admit, it is way freaking cool to see something that looks like an early dinosaur come rising out of its' river to sun itself on the beach.Absolutely. They are prehistoric marvels.


And, just as an aside, did you all notice that in this report they called this croc a "he"?

Unless there are obvious sexual differences between male and female crocs, such as differences between male and female lions, some one had to LOOK....

Now, that person had some REAL cahones!!! :DIt is an easy assumption to make. Only the males get that big.

[mikeo80]

It is an easy assumption to make. Only the males get that big.

WOW!!

Here in North America, we do not get any pedator THAT big. On land, a large, male polar bear would probably be biggest, Some where around 7 feet tall when standing, about 1600-2000 pounds.

Now that I think about it, I guess it is possible that off the coast of California, there might be some Great White Sharks in the same size frame as this guy. Killer Whales also....

I was reading a follow up to the original article. Some of the villagers near the area where this thing was captured say that there is a BIGGER one....

Somewhere nearby.....

I guess to hunt (read capture) something THAT big, you nead Crocodile Dundee AND Steve Irwin..... :p

My $0.02

Mike

[waiting4something]

I wonder who has the biggest crocs? That Gustave from Africa was pretty bad ass. Big enough to make Hippos guard there calfs. I think they say he is still at large. God damn rock star!

[Sanjuro]

IIRC, I read an article that says the biggest predator of young salties is older salties- hunting the bigger ones for skin gave a lot of young 'uns a chance to survive a little longer. Then all of a sudden the hunting ban came in- and a LOT of young adult salties had the chance to grow bigger with no threats. Result: there are a lot more big adult salties out there than there ever used to be, and they have been roaming further afield than ever before.
Being salt-water adapted, they are starting to head out to sea...
Of course, I have an entire planet between me and Oz, so if the above is incorrect, let me know and I'll delete it.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Don't worry too much about the saltwater crocs getting up to 7 metres or more in length, it's the rest of them you have to worry about...

"Sweetheart was the name given to a 5.1 metre saltwater crocodile responsible for a series of attacks on boats in Australia between 1974 and 1979. Sweetheart attacked outboard motors, dinghies, and fishing boats. In July 1979, Sweetheart was finally caught alive by a team from the Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission, but drowned while being transported when it became tangled with a log."
Quoted from Sweetheart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetheart_(crocodile)) wiki page. The story of this croc was loosely adapted for the 2007 movie 'Rogue (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479528/)'

More here http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/museums/sweetheart/index.html
Have a look down the page at the stomach contents, specifically the first animal (known to be particularly alert and suspicious creatures here especially around waterholes and rivers - that croc was crafty :eek:).

[waiting4something]

Don't worry too much about the saltwater crocs getting up to 7 metres or more in length, it's the rest of them you have to worry about...

"Sweetheart was the name given to a 5.1 metre saltwater crocodile responsible for a series of attacks on boats in Australia between 1974 and 1979. Sweetheart attacked outboard motors, dinghies, and fishing boats. In July 1979, Sweetheart was finally caught alive by a team from the Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission, but drowned while being transported when it became tangled with a log."
Quoted from Sweetheart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetheart_(crocodile)) wiki page. The story of this croc was loosely adapted for the 2007 movie 'Rogue (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479528/)'

More here http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/museums/sweetheart/index.html
Have a look down the page at the stomach contents, specifically the first animal (known to be particularly alert and suspicious creatures here especially around waterholes and rivers - that croc was crafty :eek:).

See this is what I'm talking about. Modern day monsters that bring fear, excitement, and good times around the camp fires. We need more rogue animals like this. They just make life better.
Speaking of crafty crocs this little sucker evaded capture for months in Hong Kong http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3793055.stm

[Legbreaker]

IIRC, I read an article that says the biggest predator of young salties is older salties- hunting the bigger ones for skin gave a lot of young 'uns a chance to survive a little longer. Then all of a sudden the hunting ban came in- and a LOT of young adult salties had the chance to grow bigger with no threats. Result: there are a lot more big adult salties out there than there ever used to be, and they have been roaming further afield than ever before.
Being salt-water adapted, they are starting to head out to sea...
Of course, I have an entire planet between me and Oz, so if the above is incorrect, let me know and I'll delete it.

Nope, you're on the money there. Salties are very territorial creatures and god help a smaller croc if it strays into a larger ones domain (that's what had happened in my walking on water incident above).
It's also not unheard of for fishermen miles out to sea to spot a floating log, only to realise shortly after it's actually a croc.

[Schone23666]

Well, don't have too many crocs living down here in Moyock, North Carolina, but their cousins the alligators are coming up and around, particularly in the Dismal Swamp area. You always need to be a MITE careful around there. I was talking to an old timer who'd lived around the Dismal Swamp his whole life, and he said the conventional wisdom was that if you do happen to see a dark log floating along the water, don't step on it.

Here's a pic, I think of one of the gators that's been around the Dismal Swamp area as of late. Isn't he a cutie? :p

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4639938833_7441ea6534_o.jpg

Reminds me of a scene from Smokey and the Bandit II. Sherriff Buford T. Justice is chugging along the highway when his dimwitted son spots an alligator crossing the road.

"Gosh, Pa! Look at that big 'gator crossin' the road!"

"Really? That reminds me, I gotta call your momma tonight..."
:D