’He growled and locked eyes:’ Surfing croc caught in rare video

A rare video claimed to be a big male saltwater croc porpoising like a dolphin at speed alongside a tinny on a Far North Queensland river has stunned experts. WATCH THE VIDEO

A RARE video claimed to be a big male saltwater croc porpoising like a dolphin at speed alongside a tinny on a Far North Queensland river has stunned experts.

The video captured by Cairns-based commercial coral trout fisher Robert Dunn depicts a croc estimated 4.5m long racing a small boat and leaping out of the water of the Bloomfield River, about 35km north of Cape Tribulation.

Mr Dunn said the croc, named Tommy, was well known on the river downstream from the Wujal Wujal mission.

“I saw it in the shallows and was underneath the tinny for a while,” he said.

“He came up with this growl and locked eyes with me. I was only in a 3.5 tinny and he cruised right next to me. It was interesting.

“It went down then came up again and I got my phone out and managed to get a bit of footage.

“He was gaffing it for that deep water. He was sizing me up and I thought he was going to go for the tinny, but lucky he didn’t.”

Mr Dunn said he wasn’t even that impressed with the footage and “threw it up” online not expecting much.

He has been taken aback with the response.

Responding to claims the video was fake or taken from the movie Rouge, Mr Dunn laughed off doubters and stood by the authenticity of the video.

Daintree River croc guide David White after watching the video said big males could get aggressive during the breeding season but behaviour such as this was “very unusual” and “very dangerous”.

“I have seen a big male make a huge wake like that and swim high after another male but not as fast as this,” he said.

A huge croc has been filmed porpoising like a dolphin on a Far North Queensland river in what an expert described as 'unusual' and 'very scary' behaviour. VIDEO: Robert Dunn

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“Perhaps there was another male around or else just full of testosterone and angry. I certainly wouldn’t have been so calm.”

Mr White said it was always hard to gauge the size a croc from video footage but estimated the animal to be greater than 4m.

“It’s big,” he said.

”Over 4m would be my guess. There’s just not many 5m ones so I would be lean (toward this one being) 4.5m.”

But it was the speed of the animal through the water that had the Daintree River croc guide in awe.

“They have officially been clocked at 29km/h short bursts like this though couldn’t keep it up,” he said.

“This is great video showing why these crocs should be respected and we should be in awe (of them) not hate.”

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The owner of Solar Whisper Wildlife and Crocodile Cruises with 23 years’ experience believed the video was real.

“I had no reason to doubt it,” he said.

“Though I haven’t seen as good a chase as that. Certainly (they are) capable of going fast and diving down like that.

“That’s an angry dive down not one we usually see when they are just hiding, that’s a pissed off croc.”

Originally published as ’He growled and locked eyes:’ Surfing croc caught in rare video