Vegetable and animal worlds of our planetare unique. There are microscopic representatives of fauna, which can not be considered without a microscope, but there are very large and present a real danger to humans. One of these is the combed crocodile.
Brief characteristic of a reptile
This is one of the largest animals from the unitcrocodiles. Some representatives of the species can reach a length of 7 meters, although this is rare, the average size of the animal is 4-5 meters. Females - even less, not more than 3 meters. Weight of large individuals can reach 1 ton, ordinary representatives of this species - from 500 to 600 kilograms.
This crocodile, along with poisonous snakes, is classified as a group of mammals that could survive to our times.
Scientific and popular epithets
In Latin, this kind of crocodile sounds like porosus and translates as "spongy". Indeed, old individuals on the muzzle have multiple mounds, hence the name.
In Russian, the term "combed crocodile" is used. The name is given because of the presence of two powerful crests in the mammal.
In the people, many different names are used for reptiles, which characterize the way of life: "cannibal", "sea", "underwater".
Habitat
The combed crocodile has the largest range among all species. You can explain this by the fact that the reptile perfectly swims.
There is an animal almost on all coasts of Southeast Asia, in the northern part of Australia, in Sri Lanka and in India, even in Vietnam (the central part).
Most of all, this crocodile chose the coastAustralia, the island of Papua New Guinea. And in the Seychelles, the mammal was completely exterminated. Sometimes a reptile swims even on the southern coast of Japan.
By the way, in the animated film "Octonauts", the combed crocodile and his life are very well represented, so that children can learn a lot of interesting information.
What an animal looks like
The muzzle of this species of crocodiles is slightly differentfrom other representatives. It is wider, the head itself is large enough and has a very massive jaw. With age, the upper part of the reptile's muzzle is covered with mounds and deep wrinkles.
The main distinguishing feature is the ridges neareyes, which, supposedly, are designed to protect the eyes from blows. On eyes there are special blinking membranes that the animal could look under water.
Young individuals have a yellowish brown color,pale, with pronounced spots and stripes of black color. Over the years, spots and streaks become less pronounced. Depending on the habitat, reptiles may be lighter or darker.
The belly does not have stripes, it can be white or yellow. From below the tail is painted in gray, with darker stripes.
Scales are oval and relatively small, rare, which gives more opportunities for active and rapid movement underwater.
The tail of the large combed crocodile is the longest of all representatives of the crocodile. In length, it is about 55% of the total length of the body.
The jaws of the animal are massive, the teeth are conical in shape from 64 to 68, sharp and long, ideal for blurring thick hides.
Features of the view
The heart of the reptile has 4 chambers, with a speciala valve that allows mixing arterial and venous blood. This allows him to breathe underwater for 5 minutes, but, if necessary, can stay there for 30 minutes. And if there is no active physical activity, it can survive underwater for up to 2 hours in a row.
Slow metabolism allows you to hold on for a long time without food. Even babies who have just hatched can eat without food for about 58 days.
The brain of the crocodile is only 0.05% ofof the total mass. However, it has a complex structure and resembles the bird's brain. Therefore, the reptile is capable of learning, can remember the ways of migration of prey. Also for these crocodiles is characterized by a wider range of sounds, and they use a complex body language.
This reptile has the strongest bitejaws that have ever been measured in animals. Even if we omit the calculated values and go on to practice, the bite force was measured in one zoo. The specimen weighed weighed 531 kilograms, and in length it was 4.59 meters. The strength of the bite of this individual was 1,675 kilograms. Although earlier, in another zoo, the Nile 5-meter crocodile showed even better results - 2268 kilograms.
Crocodile and tears
Osmoregulation in the combed crocodile does notdiffers from other species living in seawater. There is a horny epithelium of the oral cavity and saline glands. An adult, without prejudice to health, can spend several months in seawater. In this case, the crocodile, under no circumstances, will not consume salted water. In such periods, the body starts the process of minimizing the loss of moisture, and the animal receives water from food.
How the reptile lives
The main feature of the sea ridgeThe crocodile is that it can dwell in salt water and go out into the open sea. Capable of these reptiles and the displacement of their food rivals, even such as tiger sharks.
Modern technologies allowedan interesting study, on the bodies of 20 individuals installed satellite sensors. As a result, it turned out that 8 out of 20 subjects went to the open ocean and after 25 days sailed 590 kilometers.
While moving in water, the animal presses its pawsto the body, but moves due to undulating movements of the tail. If the reptile does not chase the prey, then it reaches 4.8 km / h, with the pursuit of "food" it develops a speed of 29 km / h and more.
On land, movement is carried out by crawling,very rarely the reptile rises to the feet or tears off the abdomen from the surface of the earth. The crocodile's paws are little adapted to land, so it avoids small and marshy places.
The animal's life style is quite typical forany predator. One crocodile controls a certain territory and protects its borders from its own kind. Hunts mostly with the onset of twilight.
Ration
Crocodiles of this species are very voracious and eat almost anything that has an organic origin. From small frogs to large specimens of artiodactyls, including livestock.
Some interesting things about reptiles
Indeed, the combed crocodile is not afraidman, but attacks only the unwary. In the same Australia, recorded only 106 cases, when a meeting of a crocodile and a person ended in a lethal outcome for the latter. This is the data for 42 years (1971-2013). That is, the figure is negligible. Naturally, the Australians make a lot of efforts to protect their own, there are special detachments that drive away reptiles from populated areas and carry out catching the most "brave" individuals. It can be concluded that this species is not as dangerous as representatives of "leather" companies want.
In 2006, the media published information and photosa combed crocodile with a length of 7.01 meters, weighing 2 tons. He was an inhabitant of the national park in Orissa. A unique specimen was even brought to the Guinness Book of Records. At the same time, it is completely unclear how the animal was measured and weighed. There are many such stories and messages.
