[Kguru]

Have a look:
And the lesson is: Never tease a croc | NEWS.com.au

PS: Link may be invalid after a few days.

[lost]

Ha ha, that's great! I love how he said he didn't realize crocs were so agressive. I'll bet he doesn't try that again...

[Pentaxtic]

Where did crocs learn to get up high like that? If crocs naturally can jump like that, I have new respect for what danger the late Steve Irwin faced. (crocodile hunter)

[lost]

Well, I don't live near crocs, but I have seen a gator launch out of the water like that to try catching a dog on the bank once. Lucky for the dog, he missed, but it was exciting for a bit. Last year I saw a story on the news about a lady that got taken by a gator in the same manner when she was working on the bank of a lake.
One way some friends have caught gators is to hang a baited hook over the water and let them jump for it. To help insure a bigger catch, they hang the bait higher off the water.


So yeah, they can launch pretty far out of the water with little effort.

[dosdan]

One way some friends have caught gators is to hang a baited hook over the water and let them jump for it.

We can't do there in Oz. The crocs in the wild are protected. From what I've seen, gators (freshwater) are quite a bit smaller than saltwater crocs.

I've watched Steve Irwin a couple of times feeding crocs at Australia Zoo. He said that the crocs prefer to stalk their prey rather rather than just be directly feed. (Perhaps it increases their appetite.) Anyway he walked around along near the water's edge carrying a skinned chook. He could see where the croc was by slight disturbances in the reeds in the muddy water and maybe by some bubbles. From where we were watching we mostly could not see where the croc was and we were getting nervous for him. Finally the brute rushed out of the water up the bank at him - about 1.5m/5 feet and ripped the chook out of his hand. Fast & violent. I feel sorry for anyone walking near the edge of a waterway in a croc-infested area.

I've also heard a croc farmer explain that crocs which are grown in captivity for their meat & skin can never be tamed. He still knows that the older crocs that have seen him for a long time are still trying to stalk him. They don't think of him as a bringer of food - to them he's still food.

[lost]

I wish I could have watched Irwin with crocs. That would have been cool. How big does a croc get (salt vs. freshwater)? The biggest gators I have seen were 12-14 feet, but some croc pics I've seen look bigger.

[Stratman]

I may be wrong, but i believe that the saltwater crocs can reach 20 feet !! that's one big lizard, lol

[dosdan]

Wikipedia has a large section on crocodile size. Here's part:

Size greatly varies between species, from the dwarf crocodile to the enormous saltwater crocodile. Large species can reach over 5m (16 ft) long and weigh well over 1200 kg (2,640 lb). Despite their large adult size, crocodiles start their life at around 20 cm (8 inches) long. The largest species of crocodile is the saltwater crocodile, found in northern Australia and throughout south-east Asia.

The largest recorded crocodile is a giant saltwater crocodile measured at 8.6 meters (28.2 feet) shot in Australia, by a school teacher who later became a conservationist. The largest living crocodile known is a 7.1 m (25.3 ft) long saltwater crocodile, in Orissa, India. It lives in Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and in June 2006, was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The other two larger certifiable records are both of 6.2 m crocodiles. The first crocodile was shot in the Mary River in the Northern Territory of Australia in 1974 by poachers and measured by wildlife rangers. The second crocodile was killed in 1983 in the Fly River, Papua New Guinea. In this latter crocodile it was actually the skin that was measured by zoologist Jerome Montague, and as skins are known to underestimate the size of the actual animal, it is possible this crocodile was at least another 10 cm longer.


From the entry on alligators:

Males can weigh 500 lbs to over 1000 pounds. One American Alligator allegedly reached a length of 19 feet, 2 inches (5.8 meters), which would make it the largest recorded. 13 to 14.5 feet (3.94 to 4.39 meters) is a more common adult size.

[Mechan1k]

I wish I could have watched Irwin with crocs. That would have been cool. How big does a croc get (salt vs. freshwater)? The biggest gators I have seen were 12-14 feet, but some croc pics I've seen look bigger.

I was lucky enough to see one of Steve's shows at Australia Zoo.
What an amazing site indeed.

Put on a great show ... and the Zoo is awesome ... put's Taronga Zoo in Sydney to shame.
Got to meet him after the show with a small group of people ... genuinely friendly generous man. A lot of the character is put on for TV though ... but he still is very enthusiastic.

Something I will remember for a long time.

Here's a croc pic from a local wildlife park ... taken with a Canon though from a friend on another forum.

[MRRiley]

What a freakin' IDIOT! "I didn't know crocs were so aggressive" What does he think their teeth are for? GEEEEZ!