Posted on 07/08/2012 3:52:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Lolong beats previous record-holder by more than two feet.
Lolong has hit the big time—at 20.24 feet (6.17 meters) long, the saltwater crocodile is officially the largest in captivity, the Guinness World Records announced recently.
Suspected of attacking several people and killing two, the giant reptile was captured alive in the Philippines' Bunawan township (map) last September. (See pictures of Lolong's capture.)
The Guinness listing is based on data by experts including crocodile zoologist Adam Britton, who measured the beast in his home, the new Bunawan Eco-Park and Research Centre. (Read more about Lolong's Guinness World Record listing.)
Initially wary of claims of record-breaking size, Britton blogged his congratulations to Lolong "for amazing the skeptic in me."
"I didn't expect to ever see a crocodile greater than 20 feet long in my lifetime, not an experience I will forget easily," wrote Britton, senior partner of the Australia-based crocodilian research and consulting group Big Gecko. (See pictures of alligators and crocodiles.)
The previous captive record-holder was a 17.97-foot-long (5.48-meter-long) Australian-caught saltwater crocodile.
What's more, Britton noted, the 2,370-pound (1,075-kilogram) Lolong may have a sizable impact on crocodile conservation in the Philippines.
For instance, the Philippine Senate recently introduced a resolution to strengthen laws protecting the saltwater crocodile and the Philippine crocodile, a species deemed critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
As Britton wrote on his blog, "this is excellent progress."
I’m going to have nightmares!!!!
that’s a big lizard
“I dub this — Mobile Luggage World”
Baby Sarcosuchus!
I wonder how many villagers he has to eat per day just maintain his weight.
Man, he looks like he just swallowed Michael Moore.
I wish he had swallowed Moore. He’d probably just end up spitting him out though. Even crocodiles have standards.
I wonder if beer was involved?
"Here, Paulio, hold muh beer."
This story sounds like a croc . . .
I’m betting that during the capture of this thing, someone said:”we’re gonna need a bigger boat!”
I watched this show right after it happened. The big croc they were after is believed to be bigger than Lolong!
I am looking at the positive side...that is a lot of alligator shoes!
The new leviathan.
There are many things we don't know, even now.
"I'd choot it...."
Krikee!
If the villagers were left to their own devices they would still be being eaten by it. The child that is supposedly the motivation for the ‘villagers’ to capture it was killed in 2008.
“Ronnie Sumiller,” actually captured it. Most of the articles I’ve seen about this story lie and say the “villagers,” sometimes led by the mayor, did it.
Its like writing an article about the Moon trip...and saying that the citizens of Cape Canaveral went to the Moon, with no mention of NASA or the astronauts.
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