Crocodiles–Some Facts

During my Trip to Hogenakkal Falls,I happen to visit a Crocodile Farm which is around 1km from Hogenakkal Falls..

And My visit to this Farm I got to see the Crocodiles in some quite unusual positions which kept me thinking as What is the reason behind it..
One such Capture is as follows–

Crocodile

In the above picture as You can see all the Crocodiles have their mouth closed except one,Now that made me think whether it was a real or fake(My Knowledge on Animal behavior is really poor),as I kept looking at the Crocodile for good 10 minutes and still there was no movement,but a minute watch helped me to see the tongue of the Crocodile in motion and I came to know that it is a real one.. 😛

Now Why the Crocodile was in that position—The Reason(after little bit of Googling) was that in order to reduce body temperature Crocodile used to sit with their Mouth Open and The body heat therefore is lost through the soft, moist skin of the mouth and tongue and I really don’t know for how long they sit in that position :-P.In-Fact a Crocodile can reduce the Body Temperature in only 3 ways–Getting into the Water,Getting into the Shade or Sit with its mouth open.

Each crocodile jaw carries 24 sharp teeth meant to grasp and crush, not to chew.That’s why they swallow stones that grind the food inside their stomachs (the stomach stones also serve as ballast).The teeth are continuously replaced along the crocodile’s life.And In total Crocodiles have 64-70 teeth and The Crocodile in the Picture above has 66 teeth(I swear I counted them.. ;))

I also saw many cut marks on the Body of Crocodiles in the Farm and upon talking with the Farm keepers I came to know that it is due to the aggressiveness during Matting Seasons.

Generally they are pretty quite and looked like totally lazy bunch of Crocs to me lying beside the Pool all day long.. :-P,But mind you they can crush anything with their powerful jaws and inflicts powerful blows their tails.

They can live upto 80 years.

So,These were some facts about Crocodile,Please do visit the Crocodile Farm whenever you are in Hogenakkal…. 😀