OT: Crocodiles know much more than we think

A few weeks ago I managed to catch the tail end of the reptiles series that Sir David Attenborough created. If you have a spare 3 1/2 minutes, take a look at this video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeincoldblood/video.shtml?licbtt08

People seem to think crocodiles are cold, unintelligent eating machines. This video clearly shows they doing something that I’d suggest that more than 99% of humans couldn’t do, even with pen, paper and a calculator with weeks of notice and a library at their disposal. What fascinates me is how they sense when to do this, given the combination of events happens so infrequently. Yet they arrive and set aside their territorial squabbles for just a day or two at exactly the right time.

Crocodiles have always intrigued me. I grew up not too far from Steve Irwin’s place at Beerwah. Whatever anyone ever thought of him, I found that if you watched him in action in person, I have never seen anyone more mesmerising.

Clearly, there’s a lot more to this world that we don’t understand yet. That’s what I love about science. It’s not the answers that are the best part, it’s the questions. I sense that we know so very little as yet.

2008-06-08