Thứ Sáu, 7 tháng 10, 2011
Aussie Boy's Body Found in Croc
The remains of a 5-year-old boy who vanished while playing near a flooded Australian river have been found inside a crocodile, reports AP. The stomach contents of a 14-foot croc captured in the Daintree River confirmed the giant reptile consumed the boy, who disappeared while playing with his dog and brother in a mangrove swamp. The killer animal will be sent to a crocodile farm or zoo, officials said.
Hermes Breeds Crocs to Skin for Handbags
Newser) – Fashion mainstay Hermes is now maintaining its own crocodile farms in Australia to provide skins for its handbags, Reuters reports. “The world is not full of crocodiles, except the stock exchange!” the French company’s CEO joked, feebly. Hermes’ leather-accessory line, which accounts for 40% of company business, has been the most successful in the economic downturn and has had to add employees.
Hermes produces 3,000 crocodile bags a year, and its exotic-skin bags can fetch nearly $50,000. “It can take three to four crocodiles to make one of our bags, so we are now breeding our own crocodiles on our own farms, mainly in Australia,” added CEO Patrick Thomas. “We cannot face demand. We have massive over-demand. We are limited by our ability to train new craftsmen.”
Cops Seize Mafia Don's 'Croc Weapon'
Italian police have confiscated a crocodile they suspect was used by a Mafia boss to persuade people to cough up protection money. The gangster invited extortion victims to his home and threatened to set the crocodile on them if they didn't pay up, investigators say. He has has been charged with illegal animal possession. The croc has been sent to an animal rehabilitation center in Rome.
Crocs Know Their Names, Open Up on Call
(Newser) – Two crocodiles at a British aquarium have been taught to recognize their own names, a feat that works with mammals in captivity but rarely with reptiles. “They are very intelligent and started responding to their names in just a few days,” the zoo’s manager tells the Telegraph. The crocs’ keepers manage the training by rewarding their charges with food when they react correctly.
“As well as enabling us to approach them and inspect and treat any potential health issues it will also allow us to set up tasks and foraging exercises for them to mimic the types of behavior they would have to use in the wild,” the manager continues. The crocs, Paleo and Suchus, have also been trained to open their mouths in anticipation of feeding. The aquarium plans “enrichment activities” for the pair once fully trained.
Crocodiles Can Surf: Scientists
Newser) – Crocodiles use their bodies as a sort of surfboard to travel vast distances on the open ocean, scientists have found. Researchers studying the territorial habits of the saltwater crocodile in Australia made the surprise discovery that the crocs, who are poor swimmers, used knowledge of river currents to ease their journey, LiveScience reports.
They fitted some with satellite trackers, and found that many crocs made trips of more than 30 miles regularly, out to the river mouth and even on to the ocean, where they traveled around a network of nearby islands. The animals are amazingly patient—one waited for four days in a sheltered bay for currents that would see him through a dangerous strait. Scientists still don't know why they make these long journeys, though some speculate their movements may give them access to migrating fish.
Fatso the Crocodile Lets Drunk Visitor Live
(Newser) – A drunk man narrowly survived a brush with a crocodile after he climbed into the reptile's cage at an Australian crocodile park, the West Australian reports. Police say the man, 36, climbed into one croc's cage and tried to feed it beer. When that didn't work, he climbed into the enclosure of another croc, named Fatso, and tried to sit on its back. Fatso was not amused, and bit the man on the back of his calf.
"He was intoxicated, and silly," a policeman said. "For an unknown reason, the crocodile has let him go and he's managed to scale the fence and exit the park." The man returned to a tavern he'd been ejected from for being drunk—"he came back at 11pm with bits of bark off, pieces of his body missing," the tavern manager said. "They said he had chunks out of legs and things like that." Experts chalked up the man's escape to the relatively cold temperature, which suppresses the crocs' energy level.
 |
Mob Burns Croc Sanctuary— on Psychic's Advice
An American-owned crocodile sanctuary in Belize was turned into a smoking ruin by an angry mob of indigenous Mayans. Truckloads of villagers armed with shotguns and machetes torched all the buildings on the 36-acre sanctuary after a local psychic told them that the Americans had fed two missing children to the crocs, CNN reports.
Cherie and Vince Rose, who moved to Belize and set up the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary in 2004, were away rescuing endangered crocodiles at the time. The couple say they have lost everything—apart from their two dogs, which survived the blaze—but they have no intention of giving up. "We are going to stay in Belize," Cherie says. "We are going to fight this. I'm not abandoning those crocodiles down there."
Plane Crash Blamed on Crocodile
(Newser) – The sole survivor of a plane crash in the Congo says an escaped crocodile is to blame for the tragedy. The crocodile had been smuggled on board in a sports bag and sparked panic after it freed itself, causing a stampede of passengers which destabilized the plane and caused the crash, the survivor says. Nineteen people, including the British pilot, died, the Guardian reports.
The crocodile reportedly survived the crash but was killed with a machete by rescuers. A British expert investigating the tragedy says that while it is possible that a movement of passengers to the front of the plane caused the crash, he's skeptical about the crocodile's involvement. "If this were the cause of the accident it is truly extraordinary," he said. "I would say it's extremely unlikely this story holds water, but I wouldn't rule it out completely."
 |
Ancient Crocodile Species Discovered
(Newser) – A fossil that had been sitting in a museum has been identified by scientists as that of a previously unknown species of crocodile—which is believed to have lived 100 million years ago, the AP reports. Analysis of the six-inch-long skull fossil, which a scientist stumbled upon in 2006, led scientists to determine that the croc belonged to a distinct species, now called Khoratosuchus jintasakuli.
The reptile had longer legs than its present-day descendants, researchers have determined. "They were living on land and could run very fast," said one. Despite that, the crocodile's teeth indicate that it fed mainly on fish.
 |
Crocodile's Appetite On Hold After Eating Phone
(User Submitted) – In a modern take on Peter Pan, a crocodile in a Ukraine zoo has swallowed a visitor’s cellphone. Rimma Golovko had been stretching out to get a good picture of the croc named Gena when the phone slipped out of her hand. Staff didn't believe her until it started to ring, drawing inevitable comparisons with the crocodile in Peter Pan, whose approach could be heard by the “tick-tock” of the alarm clock it had swallowed, notes AP.
"This should have been a very dramatic shot, but things didn't work out," said Golovko. The bad news is that zookeepers are concerned by the loss of appetite and listless behavior of Gena since she swallowed the phone, and she could face surgery. Golovko, meanwhile, would love to get her SIM card back.
 |
Man Fights Off Croc by Slugging Him in Snout
(Newser) – A father attacked by an 8-foot crocodile in northern Australia while swimming with his daughters survived by punching the reptile repeatedly in the snout, reports the Independent. The man suffered two big bites on his back and 10 puncture wounds on his wrist, but the injuries are not life-threatening, said doctors. With around 100,000 crocodiles in the Northern Territory, there have been calls to cull the dangerous reptiles. "There are just too many of them," said a local official.
 |
Croc Grabs Aussie Angler
Newser) – An Australian man fishing in a Queensland creek must have looked a lot like bait to a 13-foot saltwater crocodile. The croc launched out of the water as the 28-year-old mine worker was casting a lure and snapped at his hand, ripping off a finger. The croc then grabbed his legs and tried to pull him into the creek as he clung to a tree. A customer in a nearby pub heard his cries and came to the rescue, the BBC reports.
"His legs were dangling in the water so the croc has grabbed them and tried pulling him into the water. He grabbed hold of a branch and yelled for help and one of his mates, who was on the pub veranda, heard him and ran down," an official tells the Cairns Post. "His mate hit the croc over the nose with a big branch causing the croc to let go." The fisherman is in a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities are searching for the crocodile.
One-Ton Crocodile Nabbed
– A gigantic saltwater crocodile as heavy as a Volkswagen Beetle has been captured by residents of a Philippine village. They plan to make the monster the star of a new local ecotourism park. The 21-foot, one-ton male was nabbed in a creek and could be the largest croc captured in several years. He probably won't have to be fed immediately because he recently feasted on a water buffalo he brought down on shore. "We were nervous but it's our duty to deal with a threat to the villagers," said the mayor. "When I finally stood before it, I couldn't believe my eyes." Hunters are now on the lookout for a crocodile believed to be even bigger, reports AP.
Đăng ký:
Bài đăng (Atom)