Billabong Sanctuary now home to biggest croc on mainland Qld
Billabong Sanctuary can now claim being the home to the largest captive crocodile on mainland Queensland.
Townsville
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Billabong Sanctuary can now claim being the home to the largest captive crocodile on mainland Queensland.
Krakatoa, a 5.1 metre beast, was removed from a drainage ditch on a cane farm six years ago before being moved to the Johnstone River Crocodile Farm at Innisfail.
The mammoth croc is just short of the largest in Queensland, Cassius, which is estimated to be at least 110-year-old and measures more than 5.4m. Cassius resides on Green Island after he was relocated from the Northern Territory in 1987.
Billabong Sanctuary’s head of reptiles Alex Mackay said Krakatoa was large by Queensland standards, with conditions not allowing local crocs to grow as big as their NT counterparts. He said a crocodile 4m in length was big in Queensland.
Mr Mackay said he would be treating Krakatoa with the utmost respect.
“(With) larger crocs if you do slip up you don’t get a second chance,” he said.
“At 5.1m he’s going to have a good appetite.”
He said Krakatoa would be fed on feral big meat.
Krakatoa moved into his new enclosure with soulmate Madonna, who returns to Billabong Sanctuary after four years.
It did not take long for the pair to rekindle their love, with Krakatoa flirtatiously blowing bubbles to draw Madonna in. Blowing bubbles is a form of courting and a way crocodiles communicate.
Mr Mackay said Krakatoa was a “bit of a romantic it old seem”.
When Krakatoa lost his previous lover, he pined with a broken heart and did not eat for eight months.
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Mr Mackay estimated Krakatoa could be 70-years-old but said it was difficult to determine an exact age because he was caught in the wild.
Krakatoa and Madonna now live in a lagoon modified with a ‘jaw bridge’, which extends out to provide an exciting viewing experience.
Krakatoa was named after one of the deadliest volcanic events in history.
The Indonesian eruption in 1883 killed more than 36,000 people mostly from tsunamis that followed the explosion. The eruption could be heard 3600km away in Alice Springs and destroyed two thirds of the island of Krakatoa.
Originally published as Billabong Sanctuary now home to biggest croc on mainland Qld