Adam Britton talks about Swimming With Crocodiles and how he survived to tell the tale

ADAM Britton went swimming beside wild crocodiles — and lived to tell the tale.

ADAM Britton went swimming beside wild crocodiles — and lived to tell the tale.

The former Brit who now calls Darwin home tells about a trip to Botswana while filming the documentary Swimming With Crocodiles when he joined a film crew who had worked out it was possible to swim with freshwater Nile crocodiles when the water was clear and cold enough for the deadly creatures to go off their food and become inactive.

Mr Britton collected more than 100 tissue samples from the tails of crocs as they swam around him.

“It’s not something I would ever do with saltwater crocodiles — the water doesn’t get cold enough here (in Australia) and the water is not clear enough,” he said.

Mr Britton and his wife Erin run research and wildlife consultancy business Big Gecko and over the years have played host to naturalist superstars including Sir David Attenborough and Steve Backshall.

Attenborough filmed part of his Life In Cold Blood documentary and Backshall filmed scenes for his Deadly 60 documentary at the couple’s Darwin property — which is home to eight pet crocs including 5m-long Smaug.

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“It was a dream come true to have David Attenborough come out,” Mr Britton said.

“I was a bit inspired to become a zoologist by David Attenborough’s Life on Earth.”

Mr Britton said Smaug was used to show off his bite force.

“We got Smaug to bite the device and he bit it so hard he broke it,” Mr Britton said.

Mr Britton has also researched crocodiles and in 1998 discovered that crocodile blood is a very potent antibiotic.

The discovery made international headlines because of the wide range of medical possibilities.

“We were very excited by the potential medical applications of this discovery,” he said.

Mr Britton has also created a croc attack database, CrocBITE, which he hopes will help governments around the world create better management systems and reduce human and crocodile conflict.

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