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CROCODOPOLIS world of crocodilians TM SCIENCE · CULTURE · INDUSTRY · NEWS · COMMUNICATION · CONSERVATION
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NEWS
The CROC PRESS Regular coverage of crocodilians and people in headlines worldwide.
Wes von Papineäu, News Page Editor Email: crocnews@crocodopolis.net _________________________________________________
Week of 30 March 08
24 March 08 'Supersize Crocs: Ambush of the Nile roc'
You've seen it before, but such a scene still packs a wallop: A giant Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) ambushing the vulnerable Wildebeest. This clip is dated February 5, 2007. See it here.
2 April 08 Fla. power company Won't overheat crocs
A plan by Florida Power & Light to generate more energy at its Turkey Point nuclear power plants was discussed Friday at a public meeting held by Miami-Dade County and staff members of the South Florida Regional Planning Council.
During the 1 ½-hour session, held at the John D. Campbell Agricultural Center in the Redland, FPL administrators discussed its application to ''uprate'' -- or increase the generating capacity of its existing power plants.
The application is separate from another proposal by FPL to add two new reactors at Turkey Point.
A handful of people, including a representative from the Tropical Audubon Society and a National Park Service employee, also asked questions about the proposal. They included whether there would be any negative effects of ''uprating,'' such as harm to Biscayne Bay or Everglades restoration efforts, as well as the reproduction of American Crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) who make their home in the Turkey Point canal.
The answer to those questions was a resounding no. According to FPL spokesman Mayco Villafaña, there will essentially be no change to the current power plant or cooling canal system, and as a result, the uprate project will not adversely impact the water quality of the surrounding surface or ground waters. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/south/story/479426.html
1 April 08 One-handed man wrestles, ropes alligator The alligator was seen on video trying to spin away but the man was able to tape its jaws shut. It was then placed into a pickup and removed from the area. Local 6 reported that the gator trapper did not lose his hand to another gator. STORY & VIDEO: http://www.local6.com/news/15759032/detail.html
2 April 08 Big gator caught on major Fla. highway
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Wildlife officials say the alligator that forced one major highway in Broward County to shut down is too big to release back into the wild.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro says the alligator measures more than 9 feet and can't be relocated. Instead, it will be killed. http://www.fortmilltimes.com/124/story/119073.html
2 April 08 Hundred of caimans Slaughtered in Brazil
BRASILIA (Reuters) - The skinned and salted corpses of about 740 alligators (caimans) have been found in a nature reserve in Brazil's Amazon jungle, apparently destined to be served up as lunch in restaurants.
About 8 tons of dried alligator corpses were discovered in the Piagacu-Purus reserve with the skins, usually the most valuable part of the animal, likely dumped in rivers, the Amazonas state environmental protection agency said.
The meat was to be sold for human consumption in neighboring Para state. It was found on the premises of four local merchants who operate stores on floating houses typical in the region, some 190 miles west of the Amazonas state capital, Manaus.
"We were surprised and shocked," Aldenira Queiroz, an agency director, told Reuters by telephone from Manaus. "This indicates a large-scale commercial operation." [While it is unknown what species of crocodilian the victims were, it is likely they were a species of caiman, such as the Common Caiman, also known as the Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus crocodilus).- I.D.] http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0120477820080401
2 April 08 Nile croc found in Virginia bedroom
It really doesn’t get any more exotic than this – a six foot/1.8 meter, one hundred pound/45.3 kilogram, Nile crocodile with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth right here in Roanoke.
A Roanoke family kept the reptile illegally in a tank. Now the animal is on its way to the crocodile sanctuary in Florida. http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/nile_crocodile_found_in_local_bedroom/7998/
31 March 08 Reward for stolen Oslo croc
Oslo - A Norwegian aquarium has offered a reward of more than €3 000 for help to find a crocodile stolen at the weekend, its director said on Monday. Thieves stole the caiman on Saturday after breaking into its cage, said zoo director Kees Oscar Ekeli.
"It's forbidden for private individuals to possess such animals in Norway, which makes its black market value quite high," he said.
The caiman, also known as the Smooth-fronted Caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus), is worth around €1 250 on the official aquarium market and up to six or seven times more on the black market, he added. http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2297246,00.html
29 March 08 Tee you later, alligator
AUS golf championship was
stunned by a wild card entry yesterday.
28 March 08 NT police save swimmer from crocs, then fine him
A man swimming in crocodile-infested waters in the Northern Territory was saved from a likely grisly death when police arrived at the beach in the nick of time and began shooting into the water to scare the predators away.
Yesterday's drama, on an island beach at Alyangula on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, was captured on mobile phone camera by a frantic local man who quickly called police.
Constable Sean Stanley, 36, told smh.com.au that the 27-year-old swimmer did not heed his instructions to climb onto the crocodile trap, which was closer than the shore.
"He was so intoxicated he was just treading water trying to get his breath back,'' he said.
"The crocodile was about 20 metres (65.6 feet) behind him and then 10, it was making a beeline for him to attack him.''
28 March 08 Protected Miami crocs elude capture
Coral Gables - On a typical spring afternoon on the leafy campus of the University of Miami, many of the 15,000 students are in class, others are romping around the athletic field, and a few are seeing how close they can get to a 6-foot/1.8 meter crocodile sunbathing with its mouth open.
"They apparently don't realize how dangerous this thing is," said security guard Roberto Heredia as he warned curious collegians away from the toothy reptile. "Some people think it's fake."
School officials, including President Donna Shalala, want the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) expelled.
The problem: "We can't catch him," said university Police Chief David Rivero. "We're playing a cat-and-mouse game with this croc." http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-flbcroc0328sbmar28,0,3146721.story
26 March 08 Crocodiles 'impoverish' Botswana farmers RAMOTSWA Some rivers which are a source of water or life for farming communities in the Kgatleng district, are also exacerbating poverty. The Notwane and Limpopo rivers appear peaceful but there is trouble in the deep.
They pose a serious danger as they are home to crocodiles which feed on livestock. Ramotlabaki village, some 100 kilometres from Mochudi, just a stones throw from Botswana/South Africa border fence, is sandwiched between the two rivers.
27 March 08 Crocodile crossing for SA pupils
A South African village is demanding that a bridge be built across a crocodile-infested river to stop children swimming it to get to school. Students as young as seven have been making the crossing for two months since the community's boat was stolen. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7316081.stm
26 March 08 Alabama couple finds alligator in front yard
An Albertville area couple’s front yard view of a pond with Canada geese, ducks and turtles leisurely floating around was disrupted Friday with the discovery something else was floating in the pond.
The Alabama, USA couple, who wish to remain unidentified, discovered an alligator had taken residence in their pond.
The wife said, “We were out watching the sunset
when we noticed something swimming around the island. So we got our (tele-)
scopes and looked – and could not believe that it was an alligator.
26 March 08 Scientists unveil prehistoric crocodile
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Pointy-nosed crocodiles may have joined sharks as the dominant predators in the world's oceans some 62 million years ago, according to Brazilian scientists who on Wednesday unveiled one of the most complete skeletons found yet of the prehistoric animals.
Scientists called it a new species, "Guarinisuchus munizi," and said it sheds new light on the evolutionary history of modern crocodiles.
The fossil includes a skull, jaw bone and vertebrae, making it one of the most complete examples of marine crocodylomorphs collected so far in South America, said Alexander Kellner of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He and other scientists unveiled fossils and a model of the 10-foot/3 meter-long crocodile at the museum.
"It's a very rare find and it gives rise to several new theories," said Kellner, who co-authored an article on the find that was published Tuesday in Proceedings of The Royal Society B, a London-based peer-reviewed journal. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gruV2xTtbM6qaimlwRvyfD3g82AgD8VLC0NO0
25 March 08 Dallas aquarium hatches endangered crocs
With the care of an archeologist on excavation, and the pride of an expectant father, Luis Sigler digs up eggs incubating for 89 days exactly.
"Like I can't sleep the day before, I have dreams with crocodiles hatching. Yeah, it's really exciting," said Sigler, a crocodile biologist at the Dallas World Aquarium.
It is the moment he's been waiting for: Four wet, wiggly, baby crocodiles.
Orinoco crocodiles (Crocodylus intermedius) were nearly hunted to extinction for their beautiful black spotted hide. The hatching is so rare, so uncertain, that this was the first time it had been videotaped and shown to the general public. Story and video:
25 March 08 'Operation Git 'Em' Nets Fla. gator violators
A South Florida squad of investigators was recently awarded the 2008 “Team of the Year” by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Division of Law Enforcement. The team includes Lt. Alfredo Escanio, and investigators Manual Pomares, Maria Forrest, Andrew Carcasses, Jeff Burke, William Trubey and Arthur Matson.
“I am very proud of this team,” said Col. Julie Jones, FWC’s Law Enforcement commander. “They exemplify the kind of people this agency is made of—professional, dedicated and adaptable.”
A key component was Operation Git-‘em, in which the South Region team investigated Broward County tour boat operators who were suspected of feeding alligators. They collaborated with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to make several arrests for feeding alligators. http://www.floridasportsman.com/casts/080325/
25 March 08 Reporter writes of unusual crocodile tour
Karen Boden, reporter for Canada's Westcoaster news publication the writes an account of her vacation to Mexico, which included a San Blas crocodile tour, where guests are encouraged to wander freely and even pet large crocodiles through chain link fencing. Photos, including one of a small child stroking a very large crocodile, of the tour accompany the piece. http://www.westcoaster.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=3931
25 March 08 UK zoo unveils croc exhibit plan
Plans for a new walk-through exhibit showcasing endangered crocodiles at Colchester Zoo in England have been announced.
The new tropical exhibit, which would also be home to snakes, lizards and monkeys, will follow the completion of a £1.75million orang-utan enclosure.
It will be spread over two
floors and is hoped to feature an underwater viewing tunnel for visitors
to see crocodiles swimming above their heads. Brand=EADOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED24%20Mar%202008%2018%3A56%3A16%3A207
25 March 08 Mozambique to cull problem animals
The Mozambican government is training a special unit of professional hunters who will be tasked with killing problem animals, including crocodiles.
Agriculture minister Soares Nhaca told Radio Mozambique in a programme broadcast on Monday night that the professional hunters would be licensed to kill problem animals as a way of alleviating human-animal conflict.
"All identified problem animals will have to be killed because as government we prioritise the life of people more than that of animals," he told the station.
Nhaca said since January 2008 at least 17 people had been killed by crocodiles alone. http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=nw20080325120457416C193074
24 March 08 Gators en route to Montana Univ. lab
Scientists can learn a lot about dinosaurs by studying their closest living relatives. That's why Holly Woodward, a Montana State University graduate student, plans to bring alligators to Montana, said MSU paleontologist Jack Horner.
Woodward will fly to Louisiana in early August, pick up 20 eggs from an alligator farm and drive them back to MSU. The eggs should hatch by mid-August, and then she'll divide the alligators into two groups, Woodward said.
She wants to see how the alligators grow to learn more about the growth of Maiasaura dinosaurs that lived around Choteau. Even though alligators are cold-blooded and dinosaurs are believed to have been warm-blooded, their bones seem to grow in similar ways, Woodward said. She chose alligators instead of birds, because alligators grow slower than birds. http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=5732
24 March 08 S. Vietnam farmed crocs Dying from water pollution
Several crocodile breeders in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Chanh District in South Vietnam are selling off their animals at low prices, fearing the crocodiles will soon die from exposure to severely contaminated water. Like other breeders in the area, Tran Hoang Dung, head of the Minh Huy crocodile farm, said his animals had begun dying in the last few months while others had red, cloudy eyes. Contamination of the water in the crocodiles’ enclosure is thought to be the result of factories dumping waste and sewage into a nearby river over the last few years.
According to the Cu Chi District’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, many factories in the region directly dump untreated waste and sewage into the local Thay Cai Canal. http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=37021
24 March 08 Cairns swimmer confronts large croc
A woman has told how she swam into a monster crocodile and stared in its eyes during an Easter Sunday ocean dip at Trinity Beach.
Connie Verheyen, 55, thought she had stumbled across a log covered in barnacles as she did laps inside stinger nets about 8am. She soon realised she was face-to-face with the 3m/9.8 ft -plus croc.
"It was
scabby and I saw eyes and it started spouting water at me," she told The
Cairns Post. "I thought uh-oh, a log is not supposed to be like that, I
have to get out of here.
22 March 08 Nile croc settles in garden
In South African neighborhood
A South African woman and her gardener received a truly unexpected guest this week when a crocodile somehow made it's way onto the premises in her urban residential neighborhood.
Alpheus Motaung was on his way to throw away some
rubbish at around 8am on Thursday when he saw the reptile moving against
Enid Trollip's wall.
"I got such a fright. It was moving and then it stopped when I stopped. At first I did not know what it was then I called Trollip to take a look," he said.
Animal lover Trollip admitted she was "surprised".
"I did not expect to see a crocodile in a residential area. I knew we had to capture it somehow and keep it safe. I believe someone was trying to keep it as a pet otherwise it would be in its natural habitat," she said. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20080322093927194C411953
21 March 08 Wayward gator sets up house
In Audubon Park lagoon
There has rarely been a time when there wasn't an alligator hanging around the Audubon Park lagoon in New Orleans, Louisiana. But this one claims the elusive prize.
Audubon Zoo staffers typically have found it easy to round up alligators that are plopped into the landlocked lagoon by people who buy them illegally or catch them during fishing trips -- by law, pet stores can't sell them.
But zookeepers haven't been
able to outwit an American gator estimated to be 4 to 6 years old that
appeared before Hurricane Katrina.
The gator poses no great danger, except to crawfish, minnows, frogs and baby birds that make up his diet. But as he approaches four feet in length, Audubon Park officials want to remove him, because some people, particularly those with children and pets, will complain, fearing the reptile poses a threat. http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/wayward_gator_sets_up_house_in.html
23 March 08 Surfing croc in Northern Territory
A large Saltwater crocodile was spotted just metres from the shore at Vesteys Beach in Darwin yesterday.
The 'saltie' (Crocodylus porosus), which measured about 2.5m/8.2 ft, slowly made its way around from the Darwin Ski Club to Mindil Beach. In about one hour from 11am, the croc never ventured more than about 10m from the shoreline.
Parks and Wildlife ranger Tommy Nichols said
it was not unusual to see a crocodile that close to the beach,
especially at the end of the wet season when they are breeding.
21 March 08 Vet schools host symposium about alligators
There is one fact Dr. Ray Wilhite wanted vet students at the SAVMA Symposium to know: “Alligators are not dinosaurs.”
A geologist and paleontologist by training, Wilhite covered the basic anatomy of alligators Friday in one of the more than 15 wet labs offered along with lectures, academic competitions, tours and day trips to about 1,200 students from across the United States and Canada attending the Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) 2008 Symposium at Tuskegee and Auburn universities.
“SAVMA Symposium 2008: Two Schools-One Dream” is the theme for the four-days of events being hosted by the Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine and the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. http://www.oanow.com/oan/news/local/article/auburn_tuskegee_vet_schools_host_
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