Guys I am trying too find photos of huge crocs, saw on Natgeo a croc by the name of Gustave which the claim is too be 20 feet plus, I think it is possible , but would like too see decent photos of huge crocs

So please if you have any post them

Kwan,

The person we need to post huge croc pictures is Rich Elliott, an AR member and also booking agent for Ethiopian Rift Valley Safaris.

Their brochure has four crocs from Lake Chamo pictured. An 18'7",18'5",18'2" and a 17'10".

Gustave

Gustave Article / Links

Today's system of measuring crocodiles "over the curves" is misleading when results are compared the crocodiles measured "peg to peg" as done for decades, prior. Whatever the overall length of the crocodile featured in the video and various links, his weight and girth surely rival that of the great saltwater crocodiles.

Those links to Gustave...well, I've just got to say that video was so full of ca-ca that I don't even want to list all of the reasons why.

That documentary was total bo***cks. - But if you do a search here, I'm sure you'll find a thread and pics of an absolute monster that was shot by the military....... can't remember which country, but the croc was HUGE.

My guess it was at least 2 or 3 years ago..... I'm sure someone else will be able to find the link or tell us more.

Steve, is this the croc you were talking about??

Yup, that's it.........

Crocodile Hoax

The largest Nile crocodile on record (peg to peg measurement) was shot in 1952 on the Semliki River in Uganda. It was 19'6" long and weighed over a ton.

One can easily poo-poo the premise of the "Gustave" video but the crocodile shown there is an immense Nile specimen, regardless of actual length.

Nickudude,

I agree that is a big croc, but as Steve said there was a lot of b%%%^&&*t involved there methinks, I have been staring at crocs through binos the last couple of years and we hunted quite a couple of big ones, but the biggest was still only just over 16 feet.

Now , I did see one , and have been trying too find him since, that , me, gamescout,tracker,client all agreed was a monster croc, our guess ? maybe 18 feet.

SO whenever there is a report of some monster croc my ears pick up, alas I see nothing that convinces me that croc was 20feet + as claimed,

But,and as always in Africa there is always a but that huge monster might still be out there somewhere

Walter,

Just to clear up any confusion, I said the documentary about trying to catch the big flatdog in the cage was a load of old bo***cks. The guys doing it had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

The story and pics of the CAR flatdog are to the best of my knowledge genuine. I'd be reluctant to make a guesstimate as to the size of the flatdog in the pic - but I do reckon it's a very big animal indeed.

FWIW, the biggest flatties I've ever seen are in the Grumeti River Tanzania, the second biggest are in Cahora Bassa.

To clear up any confusion from my end., I do not believe there ever was a Nile croc over 20' in length. I point out that the Gustave crocodile appears to me an immense specimen, whatever the real story is or whatever his true length. That the Pointe Noire, Congo croc (see link) was a 16 footer I may buy but I've seen him featured elsewhere as 14'+. In either case, he is not so large or heavy as the Gustave specimen featured in the video. In my view, the 1952 Semliki River specimen stands as he all-time African record. I'd love to see it bettered but doubt we ever will. I've read of a population of nile crocs, inhabiting the coastal marshlands of western Madagascar, which were rumoured to exceed the 20' mark but no good records exist and those crocs are long gone.

No doubt that the crocs in question are very large...my point was that the video was full of snuff in a general sense on a number of points. I know you weren't endorsing it.

Here's a link to photos of some healthy Nile crocs. I give the measurements where available. Includes some from Rich Elliot, I think. Apologies to those I should have credited. My African croc-files are a disaster area.
Large Nile Crocs Dead or Alive

Nice photos. Can we see more of the large ones from Rich's area? I didn't realize he was getting into them that often.

Yikes some of those guys are big! Hi Kwan, I think that there are few crocs still around in Southern Africa bigger than the ones you have seen. The ones in the Grumeti River that Shakari mentions are massive, after seeing the National Graphic about the zebra/wildebeest migration up there. I have seen some big crocs from various areas of Zim, even some pretty big ones while bass fishing at lake Mazvigadei (don't ask me to spell it)! There used to be a huge light-coloured croc called 'Yellow-Man' at the Kariba croc farm, who died a while back. Am not sure how big he was, but he was not small! There is a 5.1m (16.5 foot) croc at the Vic Falls croc farm, and I must say, he does dwarf all the rest of the big crocs that I have seen. I think in the wild the biggest crocs I have seen have probably only been around 14-15 foot. I have heard of people seeing 18-footers, and don't doubt they are are a few out there in the Zambezi, but more often than not you can shave a foot or two off their estimate. Some of the tributaries of Kariba, like the Sanyati and co have some big boys.

I think that the Zim record stood at around 17' for a long time before that 18.1' flatdog that Nickudu has a pic off was shot. As to Gustave's real size, it is really hard to say, but seeing how he looks just as wide as some of those hippos on the sandbank, I would think that he is pretty big, maybe even as big as people say he is! I remember reading a book about a croc hunter as a kid, can not remember what the name of the book was, but the name Dempster rings a bell. It was a great read, was about one of the pioneering croc hunters in Zambia I think it was, and he is supposed to have shot a few crocs of around 20 foot, but records and measurements back then are hard to prove. I think the largest proven record is that one Nickudu mentions from Uganda in the 1950s. 'The Eyes of Morning' is another quite interesting book about some early croc researchers on Lake Turkana who shot a lot of crocs for science and research. The biggest were only around 15-16 foot, but they still looked pretty big. To put things into perspective, the record for the largest saltwater croc is supposed to be 28 foot something....now that is a BIG croc!

Gomek is a famous saltie. I wish I could find a particular photo of him showing his width as he was being fed a chicken. Man, he was big...scary big.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssmTN2kCgMQ

Here is another interesting photo...no thanks.

quote:

'The Eyes of Morning' is another quite interesting book about some early croc researchers on Lake Turkana who shot a lot of crocs for science and research. The biggest were only around 15-16 foot, but they still looked pretty big.

At the risk of being overly-pedantic, it is "Eyelids of Morning" and I bought my copy after reading about it in one of Capstick's books.

Hi Charles, sorry about that, thanks for the correction!

The Tom Bolack B Square Ranch Museum in Farmington, NM has a mounted 19 footer.

Sam

Nick, thanks for the pictures , that was what I was looking for, now I have too go dig out my map too find Lake Chama,

This is what I love, no speculating , real lengths, confirmed, love it.

Now I habe a gaol , find one that size in Cahorra Bassa

About a month ago they killed a 23" plus some inches Aligator in a big lake near Houston, Texas..Pictures were in the papers...man was he a hoss.

Ray old hoss, are you sure you don't mean 23' plus some inches? You have an inch sign in there.

I hate when my fingers are faster than my brain!

If I can find it, I will post a picture of a big croc that I photographed in the Mara River in 1987. Based on the dead wildebeast next to it, that old one was in the 14 to 18 foot range.

Dave

Sorry Ray - the doubtful but widely accepted maximum length for the alligator is 18' and 15' is far more likely.

Alligator Hoax

23 inches...I can buy that.

Read the papers and look at the pictures, the gator came out of Lake Conroe, Houston, Texas, Texas Parks and wildlife killed it. Several folks sent me the Newspaper clippings, that's the best I can tell you..If you have doubts then check it out.

Dangerous Game of North America - Accurate Reloading, June 2004, by J.J. Hack - At the time, the setting was supposedly the Florida Everglades. The pictures (now missing) were identical to this latest "incident".

Alligator Hoax 2008

Geez, Ray you don't believe everything you read I hope? 23 foot long alligators...

Easy now ... we've all been there. I've been embarrassed more than once by such hoaxes. I think the more interest one has in the subject matter, the more one wants to believe. I remember once (at least once) emailing everyone on my address list before someone wised me up. No big deal, eh?

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:

quote:

'The Eyes of Morning' is another quite interesting book about some early croc researchers on Lake Turkana who shot a lot of crocs for science and research. The biggest were only around 15-16 foot, but they still looked pretty big.

At the risk of being overly-pedantic, it is "Eyelids of Morning" and I bought my copy after reading about it in one of Capstick's books.

There is a documentary on Peter Beard, author of the book mentioned (Eyelids) running on the Sundance channel right now if anyone is interested in his work. I imagine they will re-run it but I have not checked.

Haven't you heard the govt. is going to introduce crocs to FL waters to reduce the alligator population?

Just as they are seriously considering re-introduction of the wolf to R M National park to control the elk over population. Don't want those nasty hunters out there killing elk and using them.

There was a croc at the croc exhibit in Sun City that was 18 feet 5 inches long with a big chunk of its tail gone. This was about 5 years ago. In the subsequent year, it was killed by another croc.

I have pictures at home. I'll see if I can find one.

This was by far the biggest croc I have ever seen.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Read the papers and look at the pictures, the gator came out of Lake Conroe, Houston, Texas, Texas Parks and wildlife killed it. Several folks sent me the Newspaper clippings, that's the best I can tell you..If you have doubts then check it out.

That was probably a crocodile-alligator cross. My great-great uncle originally planted crocs all around Texas during the days of Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corp days.

Most of the crocs were less than 1' long when he hauled them around with pack mules rigged with special tanks. They had traded armadillos for them with several African nations. -TONY

Tony - Crocodiles and Alligators do not interbreed.

Larry - Let me know if you need help posting any photos of that "Crocodile Sanctuary" specimen.

One more time - Alligator Hoax Commentary:

"This email forward arrives with photographs that show a very large alligator swimming with a fully grown deer in its mouth. The photographs have been circulating, along with variants of the email message shown above, since 2004. According to this version of the message, the photographs were taken from the KTBS helicopter over Lake Conroe, Texas. Other versions of the message use alternative locations, including Lake George (Florida), Cross Lake (Louisiana) and Lake Murray (South Carolina).

The photographs are genuine. However, they were not taken over Lake Conroe or any of the other locations mentioned. Nor were they taken from a news helicopter. In fact, the photographs were taken by Terri Jenkins, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a wildlife refuge near Savannah, Georgia . According to information in a 2004 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Press Release:
The photographs of this deer-eating alligator were taken from the air by Terri Jenkins, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service District Fire Management Officer. She was preparing to ignite a prescribed fire at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 miles south of Savannah, Georgia, on March 4, 2004. "

Nzou i have also seen some large crocs in mazvikadae during bass tournaments and was shocked as it was a fairly new dam.Some friends of mine that were fishing in an international for Zimbabwe at Caborra bassa in an 18 foot boat so such a re large specimen that came up beside the boat that they immeadiatley left the area but having fished all over zimbabwe i must say that a lot of big croc sizes are over estimated and exaggerated.

quote:

Originally posted by Nickudu:
Tony - Crocodiles and Alligators do not interbreed.

I bet they do in Texas. Just ask Ray. -TONY

Video of human remains inside a croc, could be a saltie rather than a nile croc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT5P8oL-scc

Hmmmmmmmm! oh well, guess it was a hoax, like I really care! One lizard is just like another in my books!

This picture was taken by a Lifeflight helicopter flying over Lake Istapoka, (for those of you who are not local, Lake Istapoka is near Sebring, Fl.)
That has to be a HUGE gator to have a whole deer in its mouth!
Are you ready to go fishing on Lake Istapoka ?!
If you ski -- try not to fall.









The alligator was found between Lake Istapoka and Pinedale estates... near a house ,
Game Wardens were forced to shoot the al ligator- guess he wouldn't cooperate.
Jayne and Don Hobkirk could hear the bellowing in the night.

Their neighbors had been telling them that they had seen a mammoth alligator
in the Lake that runs behind their house, but they dismissed the stories as being exaggerations.
'I didn't believe it,' Don Hobkirk said..

Friday they realized the stories were, if anything, understated.
Florida Game and Parks game wardens had to shoot the beast...

Joe Goff, 6' 5' tall, a game warden with the Florida Game and Parks Commission, walks past the 23-foot, one inch alligator that he shot and killed in the back yard of Jayne & Don Hobkirk...

OKaaaa, is this a hoax or not! If its true then maybe someone tossed their pet croc in the lake and it survived...

Bottom line is its mildly entertaining at best.