OT: Targan lost his pet...

[Schone23666]

Somehow he swam (and crawled) all the way to Zimbabwe...

http://gma.yahoo.com/eight-foot-croc...1148.html?vp=1

And I wonder how often this might occur "down under"?

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Schone23666

Somehow he swam (and crawled) all the way to Zimbabwe...

Hey, don't laugh! Saltwater crocodiles can travel vast distances in the open ocean. Australian crocodiles have turned up as far away as Fiji and Iwo Jima. They're very aggressive and also very territorial, so sometimes really big males will scare smaller crocs into leaving, and I think sometimes they just forget to stop swimming.

Originally Posted by Schone23666

And I wonder how often this might occur "down under"?

They turn up in peoples' back yards in the far north all the time. The residents of Darwin (capital of the Northern Territory) are generally smart enough to keep out of the local rivers and billabongs but there are generally a couple of crocodile attacks each year. Given that they can grow up to 7 meters (15' 5") long and weigh up to 2 metric tonnes, crocodile attacks are often fatal, and they like to stuff their kills under logs in their patch of river, so the victims' bodies can take a while to find.

Honestly, saltwater crocodiles scare the hell out of me.