I can’t stop thinking about crocodiles for some reason so here’s some cool pictures I found of probably the second largest one in captivity, his name is Utan:
isn’t he beautiful
listen to the SOUND when he bites
and that’s not even a real power bite, that’s mostly just heavy bone falling on heavy bone from his jaws and the air rushing out from between them
2000 pounds of Good Boy
you get me
I honestly expected like 5 notes, what HAPPENED here
More tags on this ridiculous post:
Wait, thats the 2nd biggest crocodile? Then what does the biggest one look like?
That would be Cassius, a very old Saltwater crocodile who is estimated to be around 114 years old and lives at Marineland Melanesia in Green Island, Australia. His official measurement is 5.48 meters, which makes him the largest in captivity currently. Because Utan is only slightly smaller and much younger, (only in his 50s), he will likely break Cassius’ record eventually. But for now, Cassius holds the title:
He is NOT, however, either the largest crocodile ever captured in Australia OR the largest ever in captivity.
A slightly larger crocodile has been reported (though not yet comfirmed) to have been captured at 5.58 meters.
And while the famous Brutus of the Adelaide River was estimated to be just slightly larger than Cassius at 5.5m, he was driven out of his territory by a younger and even larger crocodile, who as a result has been given the name, The Dominator. He is estimated to be just over 6m.
This is Brutus, with an appropriate caption:
It is believed that he lost that arm in a fight with a Bull Shark.
The Bull Shark lost.
THIS is the crocodile who kicked him out. The Dominator:
And that’s STILL not the biggest.
The largest living crocodile ever reliably measured was Lolong, who for the 1.5 years between his capture and his death was the largest crocodile ever held in captivity, at a whopping 6.17 meters (20 feet 3 inches) and 1075 kg (2,370 lbs). He had been feeding on both humans and very large livestock in the Bunawan creek in Agusan del Sur in the Philippines. It took 100 people all night to drag him to shore during his capture.
And here’s why:
Also, to prevent credit from getting buried on a separate reblog, I have been informed that the above image of the crocodile with the cartoon eyes and halo was made by @rashkah! (And it is wonderful and I would like to thank him for its existence, because it perfectly captures my feelings about terrifying giant primordial reptiles.)
As far as Brutus is concerned I was led to believe that he lost that arm when relatively young.
Since then Brutus developed a habit of hunting and eating Bull Sharks.
Here’s him with a prey.
And if you thought that you’ll be safe if you just stay out of Australia then think again!
Meet Gustave the Nile Croc.
This crocodile became almost legendary for both it’s size and the habit of hunting both livestock AND humans.
So how big is Gustave?
No one is sure. Since he was NEVER captured.
His estimated size is of at least 5,5m but some give him over 6m.
The terrifying parts are:
1) He is still growing having only about 60 years.
2) Adult crocodiles often perform a gesture of submission to him – something usually done by young crocodiles toward adults – Gustave is just THAT BIG.
3) His sheer size makes it difficult for him to catch agile prey Nile crocs tend to feed on – hence why he developed a habit of hunting either larger prey like Hippopotamus or creatures which are not good at spotting danger in the first place like livestock and humans.
And this is NOT ALL.
Gustave actually has a noticeable scars on his body – he was shot at east 3 times and stabbed with a spear or something similar at one occasion.
He lived to tell the tale – my question is:
What happened to that one dude who attacked Gustave with a spear?
*Crocodile Dundee voice* Mate, that’s not Gustave:
THIS is Gustave:
And he is the PERFECT CROCODILE. He is the perfect example of what I mean when I talk about (as I do) how the morphology of extremely large crocodiles adapts to the changing physics of their bite.
This is a typical adult Nile Crocodile:
And THIS is a god among his kind:
This is it, folks. The Final Form. THIS is what peak performance looks like.
Crocodiles and physics have an interesting relationship. Crocodiles have, by a CONSIDERABLE MARGIN, the strongest bite of any animal on Earth. EVER. Scaled up estimates (based on Nile and Saltwater crocodiles) give the extinct Deinosuchus an estimated bite force MORE THAN DOUBLE the recently updated Tyrannosaurus bite estimates. Living crocodiles have bite forces measured in the range of 5000 pounds per square inch, for an individual around 15-16 feet. It is estimated that modern crocodiles in the range of 18-20 feet would have bit forces around 7-8000 psi or more.
That’s a problem.
Because a crocodile’s skull is only designed to handle so much pressure. Go beyond that limit and the force of impact when those jaws snap shut could literally shatter their own skulls.
But evolution has spent hundreds of millions of years perfecting crocodiles, so PHYSICS ISN’T GOING TO STOP THEM. What ends up happening in the skulls of these extremely large crocodiles is they will increase dramatically in mass to compensate for the increased forces. A crocodile’s skull is almost exclusively solid bone, with only minimal space for nasal passages, a surprisingly advanced brain, and some slightly porous looking framework that helps the bone distribute the force over a larger area. The effect is by far the most pronounced in Nile crocodiles, which most regularly feed on larger prey and need to make use of all that power.
Compare, 26 inch skull:
vs 29 inch skull:
Both of those are Nile crocodile skulls (or rather, replicas thereof).
And just for fun, here are the skulls of completely different (and very extinct species), Deinosuchus:
and Purussaurus:
The bigger the crocodile (within a given species), the more massive the skull needs to be to compensate for that UNBELIEVABLE bit pressure. This is one way to see from a distance whether you are looking at a normal sized crocodile:
and a truly extraordinary individual:
One of the things about Gustave that’s so impressive is how healthy his teeth look. A lot of large crocodiles, in their old age, have very worn down and often missing teeth. They do replace them many times over a lifetime, but when they get very old this slows down. Gustave, at least in every picture taken of him, had teeth that were in very good condition.
Even crocodiles much smaller than Gustave’s reported size (probably similar in size to Dominator or Lolong) tend to have smaller or more worn teeth:
Eggs, a Betta albimarginata, trying to show the panda corydoras out of camera view who’s boss.
I love these guys! They’re a wild betta species, but most in the trade are captive-bred, and they’re relatively easy to breed. They can be kept in multiples, as they aren’t particularly aggressive, due to not being bred for fighting like pet store B. splendens formerly were.
I used to have two pairs in a 30 gallon cube, and the two males set up territory on either side of the tank. If one got into the other’s space, they’d flare and circle a bit, but would leave it at that. The females swam freely between the territories.
I may change the name eventually, but for now I’m calling these guys Mothim.
Mothim are smallish, humanoid creatures, usually about 5′ tall, who live on a heavily forested planet. They live among the massive, arched roots of the giant trees, usually not climbing much higher than that, and eat a diet mostly of things that you find among the roots of trees. Lots of fungi, some of which they cultivate themselves, supplemented by insects, certain types of moss, and the occasional scavenged animal carcass.
Most of the large life-forms on their planet live higher in the trees, and they have no living natural predators, though a few species of canopy-dwellers can be trouble for them now and then. Each village generally has a few guards who keep watch in the upper levels and call an alarm if something dangerous turns up.
They have soft greyish fur all over their bodies, interspaced by armor plates. The armor is mostly over their chests and limbs, and is covered by fur in the younger ones. As they get older, they start to lose the fur on their armor to wear and tear, and bald areas on the chest plating are a sign of mid-to-old age. Not unattractive to other Mothim of the same age, but not generally a positive thing on younger ones. They have short fans of antennae with many branches, more branches on the males, and small claws on three-fingered hands.
Mothim are mostly gatherers by nature, and are friendly to other species. They can be shy, though, especially the males. The males, thanks to a now-extinct predator that liked to hunt them down and eat the eggs in their brood pouches, are especially timid in nature and quick to flee from threats. They sometimes have pets of small animals, especially a large variety of terrestrial isopod that makes a helpful scavenger, and get along well with most of the animals around them.
The thing that tends to get the attention of other species is their entire breeding strategy. Mothim come as males and females, and are egg-layers. The females produce a batch of eggs every so often, a few times a year. A female releases pheromones when carrying a batch of eggs that are half mature or more, a soft scent that gets the attention of males, and will generally apply a small amount of scented paint to signal disinterest if she wishes to lay the eggs un-fertilized. Un-fertilized eggs are generally eaten by the parent, or may be used in certain cooking, as there is no attachment to them and the nutrients should be put to use.
Mothim are especially welcoming to members of other species that are naturally furry, and will often offer to preen them and snuggle them, but they tend to think that any being entirely covered in fur is still fairly young. Likewise, any being with exposed armor plates on their chest will often be mistaken for an elder.
They have a slang word that can mean either “tongue” or “penis” due to the similarity between said appendages, and it is always used in a sex-for-entertainment context, generally as a suggestion about where said appendage should be put.
A form of sex tourism has become relatively common in some of the more easy-to-access areas, as Mothim have been discovered by other species. This is mostly due to the fact that Mothim come with ideal equipment to oblige several kinks, and are generally rather open to, albeit puzzled by the interest in, kink-play like stuffing and oviposition. Said tourism occurs entirely with the permission of the Mothim, and any who attempt to overstep any bounds are harshly dealt with. Rapists who try to take advantage of said tourism generally never leave the planet- Mothim are shy, but are more durable than they look, and do not tolerate violence against them or others they care for.
Mammalian species are generally horrified by the treatment of babies, but it’s practicality-based and shows no signs of changing. In fact, Mothim have recently refused offers to try to find a cure for their genetic defect. They are aware that such a high survival rate among their offspring would lead to overpopulation very quickly, and are leery of genetic modification and worried about the side effects.
BettSplendens Tumblr Evac 