Now that I know about stones in a croc's belly, I would have liked to have had the ones that were likely found in the croc that I shot last August. Those would have been interesting conversation pieces.

MacD37



Dave

I think it's peer pressure.
One of the more popular crocs start doing it, and next thing you know everyone's swallowing rocks.
Crocs these days...

quote:

Originally posted by KC Carlin:
I think it's peer pressure.
One of the more popular crocs start doing it, and next thing you know everyone's swallowing rocks.
Crocs these days...

Good one!

There was an old croc,
Who swallowed some rocks.
How do I know,
He swallowed some rocks?

I killed him,
Deader than chicken stock.

Then I propped him up,
In a croc dry dock,
Atop a reptile
Butcher's block,

And split him like
A capital stock.

Then and there,
Much to my shock,
There spewed from the croc,
A gruesome soup stock.

Amongst which mixed, my eyes did clock,
A many hued gravel of shiny rocks.

Did they help him float?
Did they help him sink?
Did they help him digest,
The kitchen sink?

Or did they only,
Like the rest of him,
Stink?

Your guess may be true, and it may be fine,
But I'm glad, at least,
That the rocks weren't mine.

This is actually a very interesting thread... Why is it that some animals are deemed near machines uncapable of anything but reation and the next smart? I've watched birds pick up and drop staw after straw that all looked alike until the got the "right" one. Wild turkeys line up in a skirmish line across a field and march up it to eat grasshoppers, never breaking rank as they flew from under their feet to the bird beside them. What of the bullfrogs introduced to areas in the southwest where they were eating the native frogs to extinction. Small waterholes were fenced 3' high with chicken wire to keep them out, only to find they were climbing the wire to get inside, eating, them climbed back over to get back to the river. I kept bees for a number of years, dress two people alike and let them walk up to a hive, the bees will consistantly choose the same one they dont like and give chase. An insect certainly shouldnt be able to react with consistancy should they?
Those crocs have been around longer then anything else but turtles and some fish. The reason they ingest rocks may not even apply to the point that it did millions of years ago, crocs might have evolved past a solid reason, or not. It would be just like us, the newest and smartest species to decide they are not capable of knowing what they need and why.

TSJ

That is a very good reply and makes a lot of sense. Thought provoking - there is so much we don't yet know, and there is so much we will never know, especially when it comes to nature. Thanks

Now we know all about crocs swallowing rocks.

My question is why all these crocs also swallow plastic and brass bangles about three or four inches in diameter?

NitroX

You are a laugh, Sir. Read 'The Maneater of the Nyaodza', at the bottom of page 2.

Dave

As a keeper of small reptiles for most of my life and as a general observer to all living things I have learned they usually do have "a reason" for certain behaviors.

Many animals have habit of eating rocks, soil, etc. Why? Maybe a mineral deficiency? Maybe it makes them feel better? Do crocs get acid indigestion? Reptiles have highly acidic stomachs because they don't chew and also eat hair, bones, scales, etc and not just the soft meat.

I suppose if someone spent enough time looking the answer would be found.

I have a lizard (Uromastyx) who does not like deficating in his habitat and "asks" to come out to relieve himself. Once he has finished he goes back to his "home". It took me forever to figure out what he wanted, he probably thought I was the idiot!

Ann

Well said. Although I have been backing the 'unintentional rock swallowing' concept, I concede that animals are as perfectly adapted today as they have ever been, and there must be sound reason for most everything they do.Just a matter of finding out. Still, all very interesting - more knowledge to the hunter is what I say.

All the best to your lizard.

Dave

Dave,

It is funny when I think about it. We go out of our way for our dogs, etc, now a frickin lizard has me trained! At least the other two lizards don't insist on the same treatment.

Now, I really want to know why goats and cattle eat pieces of junk metal!

One of the reasons small crocodiles does not float horizontaly is to make them less vissible to predator birds. A lot of young croc's becomes bird food.Young crocs float with their bodies at a 45 degree angle in the water with only their heads visible.

The theory that crocs uses rocks to help digestion and for ballast is the correct one. I checked it with one of my daughters lectures.

I think the reason why captive bred crocs does not swallow stones, is that they get smaller chunks of food. A chicken is much smaller than the chunks that they tear of in the wild.

The habit or vice of eating unusual things in animals and people is called pica. I would suppose crocs.,cattle, dogs, etc, are all guilty. As a practicing veterinarian for 37 years, you cannot imagine the number of things that I have taken out of the stomachs of dogs and other farm animals. Dogs commonly eat stones, go thru surgery and eat more. So the croc may not have a real reason for eating stones, it may just be pica!

doccash,

We have a real problem with cattle eating every piece of rusty pipe coupling or wire on the place...I'm convinced they are magnetic!

This thread is one of the most interesting recently, IMO.

Cattle eat metal, nails etc and other "hardware" thus the moniker hardware disease, because of their indiscriminate eating habits. I cannot imagine a croc having better table manners

Thanks for the fresh input doccash, interesting stuff. We can also add ostriches to your list. My father used to breed ostriches and they were forever eating nails and bits of wire and then doing a wheels up when the metal got wedged in throat. This, I think, we can put down to straight stupidity - an ostrich's brain must be about the size of a pea! They would peck at and ingest anything shiny (buttons were a favourite),and it was a real hassle to ensure there was nothing potentially hazardous lying around in the pen. Everytime a cold and wet winter drizzle (guti) would set in, one or two ostriches would die. They would find the deepest puddle of water and sit in it, waiting to die of cold!

David: we have ostriches in our practice. When asked if I had ever tasted one I said YES, you have to eat one every once in a while to get even with the bastards.

Fact: Most crocs eat once or twice a year.

Let that sink in.

After a while they´re so hungry the rocks start looking tasty!

Simple logic.

quote:

Fact: Most crocs eat once or twice a year.

yes, in some cases, it depends on their age and the their environment. Being ectotherms they their metabolism is susceptible to external influences (not 100% but close, obviously far more than 'warm blooded' endotherms).

The same holds true for many reptiles, like snakes, larger sanked eat more seldomly than younger specimens of the same species, unless the temp. is different, this will influence metabolism, activity and energy economy....


PS ALF, thanks for the journal, refs. hope toprint those and read them when I get time...