Nile Crocodile @ Lake Sibaya – Sodwana Bay
Characteristics and physiology: Adult Nile crocodiles have a dark bronze colouration above, with faded blackish spots and stripes variably appearing across the back and a dingy off-yellow on the belly, although mud can often obscure the crocodile’s actual colour. The flanks, which are yellowish-green in colour, have dark patches arranged in oblique stripes in highly variable patterns. Some variation occurs relative to environment; specimens from swift-flowing waters tend to be lighter in colour than those dwelling in murkier lakes or swamps, which provides camouflage that suits their environment, an example of clinal variation. Nile crocodiles have green eyes. The colouration also helps to camouflage it; juveniles are grey, multicoloured, or brown, with dark cross-bands on the tail and body. The underbelly of young crocodiles is yellowish green. As it matures, Nile crocodiles become darker and the cross-bands fade, especially those on the upper-body. A similar tendency in coloration change during maturation has been noted in most crocodile species. Source: WikiPedia Watch the Nile Crocodile in action below! Don’t forget to like, subscribe and hit the bell icon to get notified of each new video! Its FREE!!! [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJTWkdjcXJw[/embedyt] Below is a picture of our Very First encounter with a rather large Nile Crocodile. We kinda disturbed it with the drone and the croc in the photo was fleeing into the water to get away from the noise! Compared to our first Nile Crocodile this Croc is still a baby! Much smaller than the first croc this one was a little more confident and stayed a little longer before retreating to the water, allowing the drone to get a really good closeup of this croc! Fun Facts about the Nile Crocodile: If you ever visiting Sodwana Bay, find out where Lake Sibaya is and make a day trip out of it! If you look hard enough you might be able to find a living log floating in the water or basking on the shoreline! Lake Sibaya is home to 2 highly aggressive marine animals – The Nile Crocodile and Hippos! So unless you can still see your feet in the water and don’t see any signs of Hippo or Crocodile activity, don’t swim in the Lake! Here is something we can all learn from the Nile Crocodile – Respect your elders! Nile Crocodiles are one of the few crocodile species that like to socialise… They don’t mind sharing an extra large meal or a school of fish. As long as there is enough they not picky who shares a meal with them… As long as you respect the hierarchy. The oldest and largest male always gets first debs on everything, the best piece of meat, fish and even the best basking spot. Sometimes the younger males can get a little cocky and challenge the alpha. That is a really poor choice on their part, since often times the younger male will be seriously injured or even killed in the fight…. Come on, everybody knows you don’t take on something that is bigger and stronger than you! Nile Crocodiles are the second largest crocodiles in the world and also the second largest reptile! They come short of the Salt Water crocodile that is the largest Reptile in the world… Most people already know this, but the crocodile is considered to be a living dinosaur that became smaller as it evolved! Well I feel privileged to have been able to see a living dinosaur in its natural habitat! Nile Crocodiles have been recorded in 26 different countries in Africa. That s a lot of habitat to fill… The IUCN has not declared these crocodiles as endangered just yet as they are so vastly spread and while in some area these crocodiles are thriving in other areas they are going extinct. Unfortunately Lake Sibaya’s crocodiles are being poisoned by a pesticide that is designed to cull malaria! Crocodiles can regenerate their teeth. I guess when you such an aggressive apex predator you do tend to loose a couple teeth along the way! Crocodiles have cone like teeth that make it much harder to loosen their grip, not to mention their powerful jaws! Crocodiles are also super fond of death rolls drowning their prey in the water, which I can imagine sometimes can take a tooth or 2 down with it! It seems like the more southern the Nile Crocodile is, the smaller it gets… This is quite strange! In the most southern part of Africa the Nile Crocodiles only grow up to 4 m long! Well maybe we just over eager, but I think our Croc was around 5 m long. The Nile crocodile is the most common crocodile in Africa, since it is very widespread over the whole continent… Once again the Saltwater Crocodile is the only one to top the Nile Croc, since it is even more widely spread! Since the Saltwater crocodile can live in saltwater and freshwater, although it still prefers Saltwater – hence the name! Here are all the countries and places you will be able to find these rather large crocs – Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Angola, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sudan, South Sudan, Botswana, and Cameroon. The Nile crocodile’s current range of distribution extends from the regional tributaries of the Nile in Sudan and Lake Nasser in Egypt to the Cunene of Angola, the Okavango Delta of Botswana, and the Olifants River in South Africa and of course the largest fresh water Lake in South Africa – Lake Sibaya. Be super careful in any unknown water space… Crocodiles are not picky when it comes to water to inhabit as long as its freshwater… Crocodiles are known to inhabit – brackish waters, lakes, fast or slow moving rivers, dams and estuaries… From time to time although very rare these crocodiles have been sited in the sea close to shorelines… All crocodiles posses salt glands, but oddly enough these glands are absent in alligators and caimans! While crocodiles are actually quite slow moving on land (very rarely reaching speeds of 18km/h) in…
