All posts tagged: crocodile

Police issue update after boy, 3, ‘thrown into crocodile enclosure’ at UK zoo | UK | News

Police issue update after boy, 3, ‘thrown into crocodile enclosure’ at UK zoo | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Police have released a major update after a boy, 3, was allegedly thrown into a crocodile enclosure at a UK zoo on Thursday. Officers have confirmed the boy from Cambridgeshire remains in Addenbrooke’s Hospital in a critical but stable condition following the incident at Johnson’s of Old Hurst in Huntingdonshire yesterday (Thursday June 18). Police were called to the zoo at 1.24pm by the ambulance service to “reports of an incident involving a three-year-old boy, during which he ended up in the crocodile enclosure”. The boy, who was pulled out of the enclosure by staff from the zoo, was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. A 30-year-old man from Norfolk was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and has been released on bail while detectives from Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s Major Crime Unit conduct further enquiries. The man, who is not known to the victim, was reportedly assessed as not being fit for interview. Det Insp Verity McCann said: “Our enquiries are ongoing as we continue to understand the circumstances surrounding this distressing incident. “Our thoughts remain …

Zoo-owner’s wife ‘leapt into crocodile enclosure’ to rescue boy, 3 | UK | News

Zoo-owner’s wife ‘leapt into crocodile enclosure’ to rescue boy, 3 | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

The wife of the zoo owner is said to have leapt in to save the boy (Image: SWNS) The wife of a zoo owner reportedly leapt into a crocodile enclosure to rescue a boy allegedly thrown in by a member of the public. Cambridgeshire Police said officers were called to Johnson’s of Old Hurst, in Huntingdonshire, at 1.24pm on Thursday. The force said a three-year-old boy ended up in the crocodile enclosure and was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge with serious injuries. His condition has been described as critical but stable. A local told The Sun there was an organised outing at the time of the incident and the zoo owner’s wife, Tracey Johnson, jumped into the enclosure to save the child. The crocodiles are kept inside a tropical house (Image: Newsquest/SWNS) Police said a 30-year-old man from Norfolk has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. In a statement on social media, Johnson’s said that “out of respect to the family” the Tropical House would remain closed until further notice. They added: “Our …

Baby crocodile smuggler from Oxnard headed to federal prison

Baby crocodile smuggler from Oxnard headed to federal prison

Published by Sam Flores

An Oxnard man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for smuggling at least 1,700 reptiles worth more than $739,000 into the U.S. over six years, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday. The animals, including baby crocodiles and Yucatán box turtles, were bought and sold over social media and came from Mexico, Hong Kong and elsewhere, an investigation led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revealed. From January 2016 to February 2022, Perez and co-conspirators brought in wild animals without the permits required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — and without declaring them, the Justice Department said. In August 2022, Jose Manuel Perez pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of smuggling goods into the country and one count of wildlife trafficking. The animals smuggled from Mexico were advertised on social media, with defendants posting photos and videos of the reptiles being captured in the wild. People working with Perez would collect the reptiles including Mexican box turtles and Mexican …

Missing hotel owner found inside crocodile

Missing hotel owner found inside crocodile

Published by Sam Flores

A South African hotelier is believed to have been eaten by a 15ft crocodile after human remains were found inside the swollen reptile. The animal was shot from a helicopter and airlifted from the crocodile-infested Komati River in a daring police operation before a post-mortem examination was carried out. A ring was found inside the belly of the 500kg apex predator and is thought to have belonged to Gabriel Batista, 59. The businessman was swept away in floodwaters while trying to drive across the Komati River in the north-east of the country a week ago. Investigators will carry out DNA tests on the bones and flesh found inside the crocodile. Batista’s four-wheel-drive vehicle became stuck when he attempted to cross the Komati River last week. He is believed to have been swept away by the floodwaters. Gabriel Batista’s truck was stuck in the Komati River – Nhlamulo Mabasa SABC News/Facebook It is not known whether Batista had drowned by the time he was attacked by the crocodiles or if he was eaten alive. In the …

An odd-nosed crocodile ate our prehistoric ancestors

An odd-nosed crocodile ate our prehistoric ancestors

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Humans have contended with crocodiles for a really long time. The recent discovery of an ancient crocodilian species sporting a strange snout indicates the reptiles may have even preyed on our earliest known hominin ancestor. The species detailed in a study published today in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology even likely went after anthropology’s most famous historical hominid—Australopithecus afarensis, better known as  Lucy.  Today’s crocodiles—and the danger they pose—remain virtually unchanged since they first evolved on Earth over 200 million years ago. The newly described species Crocodylus lucivenator existed 3.4 to 3 million years ago in present-day Ethiopia, and looked similar to the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus). While largely arid today, the region during C. lucivenator’s era was covered with shrubs and wetlands broken up by multiple rivers. In 2016, researchers began to suspect the existence of a previously unknown croc species while examining archival remains from dozens of specimens at a museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city. …

Residents warned ‘crocs everywhere’ after north Australia floods

Residents warned ‘crocs everywhere’ after north Australia floods

Published by Sam Flores

SYDNEY: Police in Australia’s Northern Territory warned of “crocs everywhere” on Sunday (Mar 8) and said they had moved more than a thousand people across the state into shelter after massive floods. The state has endured heavy rains over the weekend, with the town of Katherine experiencing its worst flooding since 1998. Police evacuated more than a thousand people across the territory on Saturday, with helicopters and aircraft deployed to communities in remote areas. “It doesn’t get much bigger,” police incident control acting commander Shaun Gill told journalists. He said “at least” 90 homes were without power and warned residents against swimming in the waters. “There are crocs absolutely everywhere. Please don’t go in the water. The message is quite clear,” he said. “Don’t swim in the water for two reasons: It’s a fast-flowing river, and also, this is where crocs are most active.” Assistant police commissioner Travis Wurst also warned residents of Katherine not to “do something silly” and jump in the water. He warned of “crocodiles and other things that will make your …

Searching for dinosaur secrets in crocodile bones : NPR

Searching for dinosaur secrets in crocodile bones : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

By looking at thin slices of crocodile bones, University of Cape Town paleobiologist Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan has concluded that researchers may have been overestimating some dinosaur ages. “It changes how we think about dinosaur growth,” she says. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption toggle caption Tommy Trenchard for NPR Until now, estimating how old a dinosaur was when it died has been a fairly simple process — just count up the growth rings in its fossilized bones. “We always thought that those rings were formed annually,” says Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, a paleobiologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In other words, much like tree rings, the idea was that roughly one ring was laid down each year. “And then you can plot that and you can work out the growth rate of the dinosaur,” explains Chinsamy-Turan. “And that’s what all of us were doing — me included.” For example, this technique suggested that it took 20-some years for a T. rex hatchling to grow into a fully grown adult, she says. But this approach …

Piercing crocodile close-up wins ecology photo competition

Piercing crocodile close-up wins ecology photo competition

Published by skeptic

Biting flies on the head of an American crocodile Zeke Rowe/British Ecological Society Most animals would be afraid to go near a crocodile, but biting flies have no qualms about landing on this fearsome predator and drinking its blood. This photo, taken by Zeke Rowe in Panama’s Coiba National Park, was chosen as the overall winner of the British Ecological Society’s annual Capturing Ecology photography competition. “This crocodile was lurking in a tidal marsh off the beach,” said Rowe, a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, in a statement. “I got as close and low as I dared, waiting for that direct eye contact.” Cape sparrows and other birds disturbed by a lioness Willem Kruger/British Ecological Society The judges also selected 10 category winners, including this shot by Willem Kruger, a South African-based photographer, which won in the interactions category. During the dry season in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on the border between South Africa and Botswana, flocks of birds were drinking at a waterhole when a pride of lions approached, scaring the …