Meet Billabong Sanctuary’s snappy new arrivals
They might look adorable now, but these scaly little crocodile hatchlings are born to bite — and they’re making a splash at Townsville’s Billabong Sanctuary. SEE THE PICS.
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Possibly cute but definitely not cuddly saltwater crocodile hatchlings are taking their first swim after emerging from eggs at Billabong Sanctuary.
Proud parents are Bonza and Riley, and a total of 49 eggs were collected from the crocodiles’ pen in late December, which are now beginning to hatch in the park’s incubator.
Park ranger Jeyn Laundrie said they collected the crocodile eggs for several reasons.
“If we let them in there to hatch, all of a sudden, we’d have 50 plus baby saltwater crocodiles roaming around, and I don’t think the neighbours others would like that very much,” she said.
“But also, even though mom’s very, very protective, female crocodiles are actually some of the best moms in the animal kingdom, the dad would eat the babies, and that would be very fair.”
The ranger said they only hatched the crocodiles that were needed.
“Last year, we gave 20 of them over to James Cook University,” she said.
“This year, we’ve already been contacted some by some private educators (who want some hatchlings) that have the correct licensing improvements that they need to house crocodiles.”
The ranger said the crocodiles were only just starting to emerge from their eggs.
“Their teeth aren’t very strong or sharp at this point. It’s actually something that you see with crocodiles as they get older and older, their teeth at this age are really designed for piercing into smaller prey items, like insects, small fish.
“But as they get older, like you’ll see with our really big crocodiles, those teeth start to widen out, and they get really blunt because they don’t want to tear off small pieces of food.
“They actually want to use that bite for us to hold on to really large prey items, drag them underwater, and that way, they have the whole meal to themselves.”
She said Billabong Sanctuary was doing its part to help conserve the species.
“We really want to stress the importance of conservation. Apex Predators play a really important role in our ecosystems, and we do understand some of the challenges.
“Obviously, there’s always going to be some safety concerns, but what we really want to teach people is how to be safe when they’re living in crocodile country, and that’s something we talk a lot about, particularly in the second half of our shows,” she said.
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Originally published as Meet Billabong Sanctuary’s snappy new arrivals
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