Just when you thought it was safe to stay out of the water; Crocks in TREES!

You would think that they aren't built for climbing but, scientists have observed crocks and gators basking in trees the world over. I never heard of this type of behavior before but the people who conducted this study say they found crocks in trees everywhere they looked. I just hope they aren't waiting to pounce on anybody from up there!

So, Turns Out Crocodiles Can Climb Trees

Crocodiles can climb trees. And they do it well, too: Some of the toothy reptiles have been spotted as high as 32 feet up a tree.

That’s not somewhere a normally aquatic crocodile ends up by accident.

Once considered a characteristic of extinct crocodilians, this proclivity for scampering up trees is common in today’s crocodiles, a team of scientists reports in Herpetology Notes [pdf]. That’s surprising, because crocodiles don’t really have the anatomic adaptations needed to easily grip tree branches and scale tree trunks in the way that sloths or monkeys do. But various sightings suggested that the reptiles, and their alligator friends, were somehow managing to become tree-borne.

Next, the scientists set out to collect a few observations of their own. In Australia, they saw crocodiles in trees — and spotted one individual attempting to scale a chain-link fence. In the Everglades and Central America, many crocodiles were spotted basking on the concealed lower branches of mangrove trees. At some of these sites, the only way the reptiles could have reached their resting spot was by climbing up the tree trunk itself. And in Africa, Nile crocodiles and their relatives were seen just as frequently in trees as were some birds. In many instances, these reptiles were lying on tree limbs that were nowhere near the water. One was spotted on a log 13 feet above the water and 16 feet from the riverbank. “To reach this site the crocodile would have had to scale a [13-foot] completely vertical bank and then walk amongst the branches to reach the end of the tree,” the authors reported.

Wired.com

Luckily, the scientists say the crocks are skittish when found up in the trees and often run away when spotted.

tried looking up a video, found this though. bwahahaha

just wait, until syfy gets a hold of this

Hell no !!

A Croc - Drop Bear hybrid !!!

We're doomed , DOOMED - I tell ya !!!!

Evolution in progress.

In a million years, look up when going to the woods

bladdersweat
tried looking up a video, found this though. bwahahaha

Looks like "Jenny" needs a tummy rub - along with Momma needing to quit the schnapps !!



( never smile at a crocodile )

Why does it make me remember this animal?

reply to post by bladdersweat

The shoe is the left overs from the former person who said: Gentle, gentle, good g.......

Not for nothing... The "tree" the croc is in looks to be easily accessible for a croc. I doubt the crocs are squirreling up maples.

Well, humans aren't adapted to go underwater, flight and even space travel and yet they do.

This throws a lot of comportment ideas about extinct, and current animals, in the basket, imo.

Life forms can adapt to do things they were not built for to begin with. Who knew humans could play hockey before it was invented, and that some would be extremely good at it?

But who can really tell what's what? Remember those Disney documentaries where we were told that a rodent specie would commit suicide by jumping into the sea... Turns out the producers were pushing them down to give us the illusion it was so...

sigh...