Mass attack of crocodiles on people. Saltwater (combed) crocodile. Photo and video of a combed crocodile Do alligators attack people
To a large extent, man is the master of his environment and the likelihood of being attacked, let alone eaten by a wild animal, is a rather rare event. This is certainly true for developed countries and no more. There are still a few creatures in the USA that are dominant even in America, and they are more than capable of eating the average person.
Oddly enough, it seems unfair to meet such large predators in some US states. Florida has all the predators: black bears, cougars, tigers and bull sharks, crocodiles and alligators. Given the proximity of a large number of people to these animals, it can be said that in general they are simply not interested in us as a source of food.
It is estimated that over a million alligators live in Florida alone. They are found in every one of Florida's 67 counties, with fewer in neighboring states. They say in Florida that where there is water, there can be alligators. It can be lakes, rivers, swamps or other bodies of water.
Can crocodiles attack people?
Given the number and proximity of alligators to humans, there must be clashes between these species. Generally speaking, alligators are fearful of humans, as humans have hunted them for centuries up to the point where they were nearly wiped out. Also, people aren't really on their menu. Alligators tend to look for simple options when it comes to food and will only settle for small animals like fish, turtles, and small animals.
However, alligators are opportunists. If the food is close and the alligator is hungry, then he may well decide to attack, even if it is a person.
Of all 23 crocodilian and alligator species, only 8 are known to attack humans unprovoked. Not surprisingly, the saltwater and Nile crocodile are the two biggest killers, but the American alligator (also known as the Mississippian alligator) is also on the list. While these reptiles kill hundreds of people each year, alligators kill just one every year.
There are several reasons why an alligator may attack a person. First, alligators will defend their nest if they think their young are in danger. There is also the possibility of misidentification, as well as the possibility that they may simply view the person as food. This is more likely for larger alligators, but it is also worth considering that an alligator is not inclined to attack anything larger than itself.
Facts about alligators
There are actually two living species of alligators: the Chinese alligator ( Alligator sinensisAlligator mississippiensis). You can probably figure out where they meet! The American alligator is significantly larger than the Chinese alligator, up to 10 times in many cases. This means that the Chinese alligator poses little threat to humans and that is why we will only talk about the American alligator.
The name alligator is believed to have been given by the first Spanish explorers of the Americas, who named these huge reptiles "el legarto", which means "large lizard".
Where do alligators live?
American alligators live in the southeastern states, mainly in Florida and Louisiana, but they also exist in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Carolina and some counties of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Within their habitat, alligators live almost anywhere there is water, except for the sea. It can be in ponds, lakes, swamps, wetlands and rivers. In addition, they also live in brackish water, they can be found in estuaries and mangroves.
What do alligators eat?
In their environment, adult alligators are at the top among predators. Their favorite prey is: turtles, large fish (for example,), birds and various mammals that share their habitat, such as muskrat and nutria.
Alligators are also ambush hunters and are sometimes capable of catching some pretty impressive prey. Not only can dogs be caught in this way, but also. However, hunting can go both ways.
How big do alligators grow?
On average, alligators weigh about 360 kg (790 lb) and reach a length of 4 m (13 ft). Larger specimens can weigh over 450 kg (1,000 lb) and reach a length of 4.4 m (14 ft). The largest alligator ever recorded was caught in the 1890s on Marsh Island in Louisiana, reaching a length of 5.85 m (19 ft). There is some doubt as to the veracity of this claim, and the next largest alligator was found in Alabama, reaching a whopping 4.6 m (15 ft) in length.
How fast can an alligator move?
There are quite a few myths and some confusion about how fast an alligator can move on land. You may have heard the numbers: over 40 km/h (25 mph), but that's not the whole story and it's a little exaggerated. We are talking about the speed of a good sprinter for a short distance at most, but for an alligator, the only time they reach this speed is when it makes the first dash a few feet to grab its prey and catch it by surprise. After that, the alligator is unlikely to reach more than 15 km/h (10 mph). Not only are they easy enough to outrun (even without zigzagging), but alligators are also notorious for not chasing their prey if the initial ambush fails.
Water is their natural environment and here you won't have any chance to swim away from it as they can swim at an astounding top speed of up to 30 km/h (20 mph).
How long do alligators live?
Although it is difficult to calculate the age of an alligator, studies have shown that, on average, they live between 30 and 50 years in the wild. Alligators have been known to live in captivity for over 80 years, as in the case of the alligator Muja from the Belgrade Zoo in Serbia, which has been there since 1937.
Can an alligator kill a person?
A photo. happy alligator
Well, we think we've already answered that question. Any alligator over 2 m (6 ft) in length is a potential danger to humans, especially in the water, where they are in control. With an average size of 2.6 m (8.2 ft) for females and 3.4 m (11.2 ft) for males, most alligators are dangerous to humans.
Alligators as predators have a whole arsenal of formidable weapons, both offensive and defensive. Firstly, the main tool for killing an alligator is its jaws. They are lined with 74 to 80 conical teeth each up to 2.5 cm (in) long. The purpose of these teeth is to grab prey and prevent it from escaping.
The jaws of the American alligator are among the most powerful on the planet. In a study conducted by Dr. Greg Erickson of Florida State University in 2005, he was able to measure the bite force of an American alligator, it was the most powerful bite ever recorded. A bite from a wild alligator 4 m (13 ft) long showed a force of almost 3000 PSI (pounds per square inch), which is 3 times stronger than a bone-crushing hyena bite. While the record did not beat the 5.5 m (17 ft) saltwater crocodile bite force of 3,700 psi in 2012, it is still a formidable and powerful bite.
This means that a large alligator is not only capable of crushing skulls and rib cages and biting through limbs, but there is also no escape from it if it has grabbed its prey. All this serves to immobilize the prey, but the kill usually occurs by drowning. Like their relatives, crocodiles, large prey alligators will use "death spin" to gain control of them as well as tear them apart. Alligators and crocodiles do not have cutting teeth and therefore must tear open any prey that is too large to swallow whole.
This method of attack requires great strength, and the alligator possesses it. The tail is practically solid muscle and is where it generates its power.
These hunting methods can also be used by the alligator when in contact with people. While most of the fatal attacks have been in the water, large alligators have also been known to hunt on land. It has been established that at a depth of 50 m (170 ft) from the surface of the water, the animal is able to lie down in anticipation, it will be ready for a lightning attack and capture almost everything that is nearby. This type of hunting usually occurs at night, so a mistaken identification can serve as a real attack on a person.
A photo. Scaled Alligator Plates
Thus, the alligator is a finely honed killing machine. However, it would not have survived for about 180 million years if it had not been very well protected. Like many other members of the crocodile order, alligators are well protected, making them very difficult to reach, even for firearms. The skin itself is very tough, but it is the actual armor on the back where the skin contains bony plates known as osteoderms.
How to survive an alligator attack?
Alligator attacks are very rare, even in Florida where there are many alligators and people. Perhaps the best way to survive is to avoid the attack itself in the first place. Take special care in areas that are known to be home to these reptiles, this means that in no case should you swim, and you should also avoid the water's edge, because alligators hunt from ambush and can hide, waiting for someone, who will pass by.
The danger zone for an alligator is about half the length of the body, in front, and about 80 or 90 degrees on both sides. This is the distance he can hit very quickly. If you're this close to an alligator, back off and run away. The idea of "running in zigzags" is a myth, just run in a straight line, straight away from the alligator.
The time of day is also an important factor in alligator attacks, they hunt from dusk to dawn.
If in the unlikely event you get attacked, you need to make life as difficult for the alligator as possible. They will not want to fight you after a light meal. Hit in the face and press in the eyes, in this case the alligator is more likely to retreat. He may also try to intercept you for better control of your body and this is when you may have the opportunity to make your escape.
There are also good statistics: the vast majority of alligator attacks do not result in serious injury and very few are actually fatal.
Statistics of alligator attacks on people
Obviously, the alligator is in a different league from the giant crocodiles, but the statistics don't show the whole picture. About 60% of Nile crocodile attacks are fatal, but only 5% of alligator attacks result in death. Ten years ago, Florida was averaging about 11 alligator attacks per year on people, but that number is slowly creeping up. In fact, in recent years, there has been an average of one fatal attack per year.
What is the difference between alligators and crocodiles
Some notice it right away, some later! Ha ha ha! Bad jokes aside, there are several ways to tell these reptiles apart. First, it's worth asking yourself: "Am I located in the southern states of the USA (or on the Yangtze River)?". If the answer is no, then you will almost certainly not meet an alligator.
A photo. Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)
Physically, these two representatives of crocodiles are very difficult to distinguish in the body below the neck, but there are big differences on the head. The classic way of distinguishing them is in their teeth (from the side) when the mouth is closed, if you can see the upper and lower teeth protruding at the same time, then it is probably a crocodile. Alligators have wider upper jaws, thus overlapping and covering the lower teeth.
The shape of the mouth is also often the key. The alligator has a wider U-shaped mouth compared to the thinner, V-shaped mouth of the crocodile.
This misconception is replicated not only by guides, but also by various tourist sites. I quote one of them: “... the Chao Phraya River is still flowing for itself - muddy, with yellow water, very wide. Crocodiles in this river are not rare at all, on the contrary. According to statistics, up to 20 people die from their teeth every year in Bangkok.
Scary? Will you now ride river trams along the Chao Phraya River? Do not be afraid. This is outright bullshit.
Who came up with all this, I don't know. There are no such statistics in nature. Perhaps one of the Russian tourists or guides, being in a state of light (or medium) alcohol intoxication, saw a two-meter monitor lizard in the Chauphraya River, mistook it for a crocodile and away we go. Rumors spread quickly and grow with new details as they spread. And now, referring to the statistics, you can scare tourists: “In a year in Bangkok, crocodiles eat twenty people!”
Once again, there are no such statistics. Or it is only in the inflamed imagination of the one who came up with it. Crocodiles do not eat people in Bangkok, on the contrary, people in Bangkok eat crocodiles in restaurants.
I must say that it is impossible to find reliable data on the Russian-language Internet about how many people a year eat crocodiles around the world. A lot of yellowish information about man-eating crocodiles in the spirit of horror films (“Crocodile Gustav ate 300 people in Burundi”, “In Uganda, a crocodile destroyed a third of a fishing village”). But there is no scientific evidence at all.
At the same time, such data is available on the English-speaking Internet. And you can check them out. And find out that the most attacks of crocodiles on people are in Africa, where the evil and terrible Nile crocodile rampages.
But strangely enough, the much larger combed crocodile (it is he who lives in Southeast Asia) is responsible for only 20-30 attacks on people a year. And this is throughout its habitat from India to Australia. Each such attack is recorded. But for some reason, there are no residents of Bangkok eaten by crocodiles in these statistics at all.
I note that sometimes crocodiles fall into the Chao Phraya River. This happens when they run away from the farms where they are bred. Such cases are periodically recorded during the rainy season, when crocodile farms are flooded. The flood of 2011 was especially memorable in this regard. 120 saltwater crocodiles from a farm in Nonthaburi province have escaped to freedom. Their attacks on children were recorded. The fugitives were caught by the military, professional crocodile hunters and detachments of volunteers. The reptiles that escaped to freedom were returned to their place.
I summarize. Rumors that crocodiles live in the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, eating 20 people a year, are a delusion replicated by illiterate guides and authors of Internet sites. Swimming in this river, however, is not recommended. But not because terrible predators live in it - combed crocodiles. Because the water is very polluted.
Withshark attack fucks,nowcooler than those hovering around the much more dangerous predators, crocodiles.M Waiting for those, the harm from them is much more than from sharks. And yes, they look worse. African guide Hendrik Coetzee, who led a kayak expedition to the Congo, was recently eaten by a crocodile in front of two terrified tourists.
A crocodile attacked Coetzee on a river in the Congo. After the attack and the terrible death of the guide, two stunned American tourists were transported to the nearest city. No remains of 35-year-old Hendrik Coetzee, who lived in Uganda, have been found. Apparently, the crocodile swallowed the guide whole, without a trace, and did not even choke. Reports of this incident are as horrific as they are hopeless: according to experts, if a shark attack can be at least somehow fought off, then it is much more difficult to escape from a swift attack of a crocodile. This is confirmed by statistics.
In the world, 15 people become victims of sharks every year. 200 people die from meeting with hippos, 250 from elephants, 1250 die from bee stings, meeting with crocodiles ends tragically for 2500 people. It is easy to calculate that crocodiles are 168 times more dangerous than sharks! By the way, in fact, the most sinister killers are mosquitoes - as many as two million people die from their bites. But then mosquitoes ... Here are just a few cases of crocodile robbery, which the press has been talking about only recently.
At the end of August, a small African plane crashed in the Republic of the Congo while on a regular flight from the capital of the Congo, Kinshasa, to Bandunda. The crash killed 20 people, including the owner of the airline, 62-year-old Belgian Daniel Filmot, who personally piloted the aircraft. There were no obvious technical problems due to which the plane could crash. It has been suggested that the pilots failed to land the first time, after which they ran out of fuel and the plane crashed to the ground.
According to the British newspaper Daily Telegraph, the only surviving passenger, hospitalized in critical condition in one of the local hospitals, spoke about the causes of the tragedy. As it turned out, there was a crocodile on board the plane. One of the passengers on the flight was transporting the reptile in a sports bag, intending to sell it. During the flight, the animal escaped, causing panic in the cabin of the aircraft.
The plane lost balance and began to fall. Before flying a couple of kilometers to the runway, the plane crashed into a residential building, in which at that moment there was no one by a lucky chance. The report of the commission investigating the incident says: "The frightened stewardess threw herself into the cockpit, followed by the passengers. Despite the desperate efforts of the pilot, the plane lost its balance."
In August, in the theater of marine animals and dolphins "Aquatoria" in Yalta, a crocodile bit a three-year-old child who came with his parents on vacation from Belarusian Brest. The boy received numerous injuries - amputation of the fourth finger of the left hand, incomplete detachment of the third finger, fracture of the metacarpal bones, lacerated wounds from the teeth of a crocodile.
Lauren Failla, a 25-year-old US citizen, was vacationing with her friend in India's Andaman Islands. Once she disappeared while swimming underwater. According to the Associated Press, two days later, the remains of her body were found with terrible lacerations. Local authorities confirmed that she was killed by a crocodile.
In the city of Broome in northwestern Australia, a five-meter combed crocodile in a local wildlife park bit a tipsy 36-year-old man who tried to ride him. The crocodile behaved aggressively and bit the man on the right leg. The man received a serious laceration, but still managed to escape from the park and return to the pub, whose employees called an ambulance. The failed rider was hospitalized and operated on.
In the Mexican resort of Cancun, a crocodile attacked an American tourist when he tried to relieve himself in the water of the lagoon. After the attack, the young man was taken to the hospital with multiple bite wounds on his leg and neck. He also suffered a head injury when the reptile hit him on the ground.
In Angola, crocodile attacks have killed at least nine children in just a few days. National Radio of Angola reported that the dead children were between 10 and 16 years old, they became victims of ruthless reptiles when they came to the Keva River to draw water.
Crocodile attack continues. And, apparently, such messages will end only when the entire genus of crocodiles disappears from the planet ...
Humans are not included in the usual diet of alligators and crocodiles, but often become their victims. Crocodiles are more dangerous than sharks and kill people 100 times more often. How to survive the attack of a crocodile and an alligator?
Many people are afraid of sharks but underestimate the risks posed by crocodiles and alligators. There are far fewer deaths from shark attacks. Crocodiles kill between 1,000 and 2,000 people a year. In Africa, statistics are poorly maintained, so the exact number of deaths from reptiles is unknown.
What is the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?
Crocodiles are larger than alligators and more aggressive. They can reach up to 7 meters in length, when alligators are no more than 4 meters. Crocodiles have a long and narrow snout (V-shaped), while alligators have a flattened and blunt snout (U-shaped). Crocodiles can live in salt water, while alligators can only live in fresh water. Crocodiles live in Africa, Australia, America and Asia, while alligators live only in America and China.
Which crocodiles and alligators attack most often?
In the first place, in terms of attacks, is the Nile crocodile. Dangerous combed, marsh and sharp-snouted crocodile. The black caiman also often attacks people.
Who is more dangerous crocodile or alligator?
Alligators feed on fish, birds, turtles, and other reptiles. They rarely view humans as prey and attack only as a last resort. But not crocodiles. They already consider a person as a victim and are very dangerous.
Which crocodiles and alligators are dangerous?
Mortal danger comes from any reptile over 1.5 meters and weighing over 30 kg. A powerful jaw allows even small individuals to tear the victim into pieces, and then eat.
When are crocodiles most dangerous?
90% of attacks on people occur between November and May. At this time, they guard their territory and protect young offspring. During this period, it is better to refrain from visiting reptile habitats.
Where can crocodiles attack?
Stay away from places where reptiles live. 90% of attacks occur in or near water. Crocodiles prefer stagnant or slowly flowing water, where there is a lot of mud and mud. Crocodiles can live in lakes, rivers, canals and even in the sea.
How not to be attacked by a crocodile?
- Pay attention to signs that warn of the presence of dangerous reptiles.
- Do not swim in places where there is no designated swimming area. This can be a dangerous place.
- Do not walk your dog in areas where crocodiles can live.
- Do not let children walk near the water alone. Crocodiles prefer small targets.
- Do not pitch your tent closer than 50 meters from the water and below 2 meters above the water.
- Don't lean over the water, because crocodiles can jump out of it.
- Stay away from a crocodile or alligator nest.
What time do crocodiles attack most often?
Crocodiles can attack at any time, but more often they act at night and at dusk. Stay away from the water, illuminate the area with a flashlight or headlights.
What to do if you are in the water with a crocodile?
Did the boat capsize, swim in a dangerous place, or fall into the water? Get out immediately. Don't scream, don't splash, and don't flounder. This will attract the attention of crocodiles. Get out of the water as quickly as possible. You can dive and swim underwater to make less noise.
What to do if you spot a crocodile?
Spotted a crocodile from afar? Remain calm and silently withdraw to a safe place. Do not turn your back on the reptile, you may miss the moment when he decides to attack. At the sight of your boat, the crocodile jumped into the water? Most likely, he himself was frightened and wants to wait in the water until you disappear from sight. But it's best to get away as quickly as possible.
How to run away from a crocodile?
If the distance between you is less than 5 meters, then you need to immediately and very quickly run away. Crocodiles are very fast, but only for short distances. You should not try to run away in zigzags, because crocodiles are much more agile, and your speed will be low. The speed of crocodiles is 17 km per hour on land, and a person is able to run faster. Run away as fast as you can, but avoid running into another reptile.
If a crocodile or an alligator attacked, then this is not the end. About 45% of reptile victims were able to survive, giving her a real fight.