Posted on 09/26/2007 6:06:29 PM PDT by blam
Evicted crocodiles can find their way home
By Nick Squires in Cairns
Last Updated: 3:38pm BST 26/09/2007
Moving rogue crocodiles to remote areas free of people is all but useless because the reptiles have a highly developed homing instinct, Australian researchers have discovered.
Scientists were astonished to find that relocated saltwater crocodiles swam up to 250 miles to return to the area where they had originally been trapped.
Crocodiles can get a little upset if they're evicted.
The findings, detailed yesterday in an online scientific journal, PLoS ONE, suggest that wildlife authorities’ strategy of relocating rogue crocodiles needs a radical rethink.
Relocation could even worsen the problem, because crocodiles become upset, and possibly more aggressive, when displaced from their home territory.
The discovery of the boomerang-like instinct was made by a team of researchers including the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, killed last year by a stingray.
"They seem to have a strong home fidelity," said research team leader Prof Craig Franklin, of Queensland University.
The scientists used satellite tracking technology to follow three crocodiles that were relocated in the far north of Queensland, a region of creeks, swamps and undeveloped coastline.
The crocodiles were captured in the wild, anaesthetised and fitted with battery-run tracking devices.
They were then transported far from their home range and released. All three found their way back to their capture sites.
One of the "salties" was trapped on the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula and then flown by helicopter to the east coast.
But it swam more than 250 miles around the peninsula and arrived back at its original range after 20 days. Prof Franklin said he was "staggered" by the journey.
"We often thought crocodiles tired very quickly but here we show very clearly that they are capable of moving long distances for days on end."
Exactly how crocodiles can navigate so well is not known. "Crocodiles are more closely related to birds, so maybe they are using similar navigational tools such as magnetic fields and smell," he said.
The research was a collaboration between Queensland University, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and Irwin’s Australia Zoo, which provided funding and logistical support.
Thats why you should shoot them.
Are they sure it didn't just walk across the base of the peninsula? That would have been a shorter trip. Or maybe it hitchhiked.
...ticktickticktickticktickticktick...
ping
These astonished scientists haven't been reading the literature. The homing "instinct" has been well-established for many, many species of cold-blooded vertebrates.
When you kill them they don’t come back. Pretty simple.
Kind of like murderers, child molestors, and rapists. :)
That’s what happens when a bunch of pansy-assed libbruls get ahold of a bunch of gubmint (our) money, and decide that each and every oppressed reptile in Ameriker is entittled to, obligerized to recieve, and will have implanted up the orifice selected by the Wise and Unchallengeable Ones, one damn GPS unit with voice directions, no less, to outsmart and overcome anybody telling them they shouldn’t be where they are.
Shoot ‘em?
Dynamite ‘em.
Slow week. ;’)
Handbags and boots won’t find their way back. ;^)
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