Crocodile attacks on people in Bangkok. Saltwater (combed) crocodile. Photo and video of a combed crocodile Real attacks of crocodiles on people documentary

Steps

• Stay away from water. Learn from local residents and relevant authorities about the presence of crocodiles or alligators in lakes and rivers, and do not swim in unintended areas or in water where these animals live. Very it is important not to enter the water at dusk or at night, when these animals are more difficult to spot and when they are very actively hunting.
• Carefully examine your environment. If you are going to go into the water or be near the water where they roam crocodiles be sure to be vigilant at all times. Alligators and crocodiles they can hide very well in water, often with only their eyes and nostrils above the water, or they are completely immersed in water. Do not swing your arms or legs out of the boat into the water. When walking along the shore, keep your distance from the water - crocodiles often attack fishermen and people collecting water on the shore, and also avoid dense vegetation, which provides these animals with good cover.
• Do not approach alligators or crocodiles closer than 5 m. If you spot them, stay away from them. Five meters on the ground is usually enough, but during the mating season it is better to stay even further away from them. Always avoid being near their nests or babies, as the mother can be very protective of them. crocodiles can make a short dash on the ground, which can scare you if you are too close. In the water, these animals are much faster than humans and feel at home there, so it's best to give them as much space as possible.
• Don't take these animals by surprise. If you notice that you are approaching a crocodile, make a sound by paddling the water with an oar if you are in a boat, or whistle, for example. When passing near a bend in the river, stay away from the shore. Crocodiles or alligators on the shore they may attack in self-defense if you scare them.
• Run away from the animal. Despite all the security measures, you can still accidentally find yourself at an unsafe distance from a crocodile or alligator. Fortunately, crocodiles they rely on the surprise factor to catch prey, so it is extremely rare for these animals to chase people on the ground. Nevertheless, crocodiles and alligators not as slow on the ground as many people think, although they are not as fast as others believe. Land speed record - 10 miles per hour (about 17 km / h); these animals also get tired quickly when running on the ground, which means that, having noticed it, any teenager and adult who is at a decent distance can easily overtake this animal on the ground. Run out of the water crocodiles and alligators often run on land, unless they are trying to get back into the water or are out of danger. It is useless to heed the advice to run away in a zigzag: the most fast way keeping the distance between you and the crocodile is to run away in a straight line.
• When attacked, fight back. Although usually crocodiles will bite potential meat (you) and hold until they kill you with force, sometimes (especially when protecting babies and territory) they will make only one quick defensive bite, and then immediately release. In this case, try to simply move away from the animal. However, in predatory attacks, as well as in defensive attacks, the animal does not let go and often tries to drag the person into or under water. crocodiles can be under water much longer than people, so the only hope for salvation in this case is to fight back and run away. Simply wrestling or trying to break free is usually not enough and this behavior may prompt the crocodile to pull you under the water, and the arm or leg that is in the crocodile's mouth is likely to come off. Best Option- a deliberate and carefully planned attack on an animal.

• Try to damage your eyes. The most vulnerable part of the body of a crocodile or alligator is its eyes. Try to strike in the eyes with any object at your fingertips: an oar, a stick or a knife. Even your hands can become effective weapon if you get this animal in the eye. A Florida teenager recently managed to escape from an alligator that pulled him into the water by sticking his thumb in the eye of an alligator.
• Aim to damage the nostrils or ears. Not as sensitive as the eyes, nostrils and ears of a crocodile can also be effectively hit. A strong air current or a cut in any of these organs can cause the animal to let you go. Many people have managed to free themselves from the jaws of a crocodile or alligator by hitting the animal in the face with a pole or club.
• Try to damage the palatal valve. Crocodiles have a “valve” behind their tongue covering their throats. This valve prevents water from entering the throat, and thus prevents them from drowning with their mouths open. If your hand or foot is stuck in the crocodile's mouth, you may be able to pry off this valve. Thus, the water will flow into the throat and, most likely, he will let you go. Swipe to this area can also force the animal to let you go.

• Contact immediately medical care. A huge amount of bacteria accumulates in the mouth of a crocodile, and you are almost guaranteed to contract an infection if you do not treat the wound immediately.

Helpful Hints

• Alligators typically have a broad, "bucket-like" muzzle, while crocodilians have a more pointed muzzle. Alligators are found in parts of the US and southern China.
• Protect pets in areas where crocodiles live. Do not allow pets to enter the water where crocodiles or alligators live, and when walking in the habitat of these animals, keep the dog on a leash. crocodiles often attack pets; You can also be attacked if your animal disturbs one of these animals or attracts its attention as prey.
• Crocodiles and alligators They are safest in the water, so if you are in a boat and bump into them on the ground, they may slip into the water. This may scare you, as it may seem like an attack on their part, but usually they just go under water to hide and will hide there until you leave. Try to leave this place quickly, do not dare to go into the water or stick your arms or legs out of the boat.
• It is known that crocodiles attacked small boats, in particular canoes, but then left people even if they were thrown into the water. It is believed that crocodiles or alligators watching from under the water, they can see the boat and consider it to be another crocodile or alligator. Therefore, they attack boats in order to protect the territory.
• Crocodiles can remember travel routes and campsites. When resting in the habitat of these animals, set up tents away from the water, and do not scatter food waste. If you need to approach or enter the water to fetch water, wash dishes or wash your face, do so with care and do not always enter the water in the same place. Crocodiles or alligators may smell food after washing dishes, or they may see you from afar as you fill up water and therefore may be waiting for you the next time you go there.
• The jaws of alligators or crocodilians are very strong when they are closed, but they have very weak muscles to open the jaw, so if you hold the alligator's closed mouth tightly with both hands, it will not be able to open it. But remember, he can move his body a lot and in this way can be released.

Warning

• Never feed crocodiles and alligators, intentionally or unintentionally (for example, by scattering or leaving food waste near the camp or water). Feeding these animals may cause them to lose their fear of humans and may view humans as a source of food. It can also lead to an immediate attack if the person feeding them gets too close.
• Crocodiles and alligators already view humans as prey, so unprovoked attacks can occur. combed crocodiles found in Australia and Asia, and Nile crocodiles in particular, they are very famous for attacking people and are sometimes attracted to the sound of an outboard engine (although it has been theorized that they attack boats in order to protect the territory, since the engines make a sound similar to that of other crocodiles).
• If a crocodile grabs your arm or leg, it will try to unscrew it. Therefore, get ready to immediately start twisting it in the same direction.
• In places like the north coast of Australia where crocodiles live, the fact that there are no visible signs of a crocodile's presence does not always mean that you are completely safe. Crocodiles enter the ocean, stream or river where they are not expected to be seen.
• Do your best to avoid being dragged into the water by a crocodile or an alligator. They are stronger than you, and allowing them to drag you into the water, you risk suffocation.

It must be said right away that crocodile attacks on people are recorded where they live. large reptiles. Of the 23 species, only 6 are considered dangerous. A mortal danger represent crocodiles with a length of 2.75 meters, since smaller individuals are not able to kill an adult.

However, even the smallest species are capable of inflicting painful bites. They also pose a serious danger to children, since the size of the latter is similar to the size of the prey that small species feed on.

The greatest danger to humans is Nile And ridged crocodiles. The former is credited with hundreds of deadly attacks south of the Sahara. The second is deadly for a person in South-East Asia and Australia.

Less aggressive american crocodile. There are only a few deaths with his participation. There is also a great danger black caiman living in the Amazon basin. The American alligator is also responsible for the death of people. And most of his attacks were recorded in Florida.

count up exact amount crocodile attacks on humans a year is extremely difficult. Many of these places are in remote areas or areas of political unrest. Local authorities do not always report such incidents, and some reports cannot be verified at all.

At the same time, such information is still being collected. So in Zimbabwe for 10 months in 2005, 13 deaths were registered, the culprits of which were toothed reptiles.

The thunderstorm of Africa is considered nile crocodile. Every year it kills hundreds, maybe thousands of people. Most of the attacks are not reported, but one of the researchers found that this species attacks 650-745 people a year. Of this number of attacks, 63% are fatal.

It's more than combed crocodile. The latter has 30 attacks per year, of which 50% are fatal. Based on all this, experts conclude that the Nile crocodile is the most dangerous predator for humans, not only among reptiles, but also among all predatory animals on the planet.

Thus, crocodile attacks on humans are quite common. But let's look at a few concrete examples to get a fuller picture of this scourge. So in May 1992, an 18-year-old girl was killed by a crocodile in Malaysia on the Pelaban River. After this incident, the bloodthirsty reptile was shot dead. It turned out to be the largest and oldest ever found in the area.

In January 2001, several attacks on people were reported near the Neyyar reservoir in India. In this case, the perpetrators of the incidents were swamp crocodiles. They are impressive in size, but have never shown aggression towards people before. Experts suggested that among these reptiles a small group with inadequate behavior appeared.

In October 2002 in national park A 23-year-old German student died from the teeth of a crocodile in Australia. She sailed on a small pleasure boat with her sister and a few other tourists. At some point, out of the water appeared huge crocodile. He grabbed the girl sitting at the side and dragged her into the depths.

In September 2005, a 37-year-old British engineer, while vacationing in Australia, was diving near one of the beaches. A crocodile attacked him, and the man died. The victim's body was found.

In March 2006, a 68-year-old professor of medicine at the University of Washington was attacked by a crocodile on the Limpopo River. The professor came to Africa to treat people, but being in wild nature, was killed by a huge reptile.

In February 2009, a 5-year-old boy was attacked by a reptile in northern Australia. After some time, the police killed the crocodile near the scene of the tragedy, and the remains of a child were found in his stomach.

In September 2011, a 6-meter crocodile was killed by hunters and policemen in the southern Philippines. Prior to that, he had made several fatal attacks on people. In particular, he ate a farmer and a 12-year-old girl.

In May 2016, a 46-year-old woman and her 47-year-old close friend went to the beach in the Daintree National Park in Queensland (Australia) in the evening. The man had just recovered from cancer, and the couple were in a rosy mood. People began to swim, but at some point a crocodile appeared from the water, grabbed the woman and dragged her away. The man could do nothing to help his girlfriend. The remains of the unfortunate were found in a dead 4-meter crocodile 3 days after the tragedy.

In September 2017, a 24-year-old journalist was killed by a reptile in Arugam Bay in Sri Lanka. A man was washing his hands by the water when he was suddenly attacked. The crocodile grabbed the journalist and dragged him into the water. The place where the attack took place is known for the largest population of toothy predators.

From the above examples, it can be seen that the attacks of crocodiles on people are systemic in nature. Therefore, you need to be extra careful in areas where dangerous reptiles live. Only in this case can you protect yourself from terrible monsters, which host both in river and sea waters.

This misconception is replicated not only by guides, but also by various tourist sites. I quote one of them: “... the Chao Phraya River is still flowing for itself - muddy, with yellow water, very wide. Crocodiles in this river are not rare at all, on the contrary. According to statistics, up to 20 people die from their teeth every year in Bangkok.

Scary? Will you now ride river trams along the Chao Phraya River? Do not be afraid. This is outright bullshit.

Who came up with all this, I don't know. There are no such statistics in nature. Perhaps one of the Russian tourists or guides being in a state of light (or medium) alcohol intoxication I saw a two-meter monitor lizard in the Chauphraya River, mistook it for a crocodile and away we go. Rumors spread quickly and grow with new details as they spread. And now, referring to the statistics, you can scare tourists: “In a year in Bangkok, crocodiles eat twenty people!”

Once again, there are no such statistics. Or it is only in the inflamed imagination of the one who came up with it. Crocodiles do not eat people in Bangkok, on the contrary, people in Bangkok eat crocodiles in restaurants.

I must say that it is impossible to find reliable data on the Russian-language Internet about how many people a year eat crocodiles around the world. A lot of yellowish information about cannibal crocodiles in the spirit of horror films (“Crocodile Gustav ate 300 people in Burundi”, “In Uganda, a crocodile destroyed a third fishing village"). But there is no scientific evidence at all.

At the same time, such data is available on the English-speaking Internet. And you can check them out. And find out that the most attacks of crocodiles on people are in Africa, where the evil and terrible Nile crocodile rampages.

But how strange it is not much bigger size the combed crocodile (it is he who lives in Southeast Asia) is responsible for only 20-30 attacks on people a year. And this is throughout its habitat from India to Australia. Each such attack is recorded. But for some reason, there are no residents of Bangkok eaten by crocodiles in these statistics at all.

I note that sometimes crocodiles fall into the Chao Phraya River. This happens when they run away from the farms where they are bred. Such cases are periodically recorded during the rainy season, when crocodile farms are flooded. The flood of 2011 was especially memorable in this regard. 120 saltwater crocodiles from a farm in Nonthaburi province have escaped to freedom. Their attacks on children were recorded. The military caught the fugitives, professional hunters on crocodiles and detachments of volunteers. The reptiles that escaped to freedom were returned to their place.

I summarize. Rumors that crocodiles live in the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, eating 20 people a year, are a delusion replicated by illiterate guides and authors of Internet sites. Swimming in this river, however, is not recommended. But not because they live in it scary predators- combed crocodiles. Because the water is very polluted.

The combed crocodile gets its name from the characteristic ridges near the eyes. With age, these ridges stand out more and more noticeably, and in older individuals the entire muzzle is covered with large tubercles. These bumps even gave the crocodile an international scientific name « Crocodylus porosus", from lat. porosus - "nostrilous".

The frightening appearance and huge size of this predator from ancient times instilled fear in the hearts of people. This is the largest modern reptile on the planet, and the largest crocodile. It is also one of the most large predators on the ground. Its size exceeds the size of a polar bear.

inhabits combed crocodile V warm waters Australia, Indonesia, India, Philippines. Formerly found in Seychelles and African east coast(now completely destroyed). Ability saltwater crocodile swimming well and far in the sea allows him to appear in the most unexpected places for a person. So, sometimes this predator is found even off the coast of Japan, where it never lived. Outwardly clumsy and inactive combed crocodiles can travel great distances. For long-distance travel, they use sea currents that pick up the heavy body of a reptile and carry it hundreds of kilometers. Observations of some crocodiles (using satellite transmitters) have shown that adult males can swim almost 600 km in the sea. in 25 days.

Drifting with the current helps the crocodile conserve energy. Sometimes the predator stops in coastal bays and gulfs until it reaches the desired current. Such crocodiles, waiting for their “wave”, can remain near the shore for several days, terrifying the locals. Quite often crocodiles even force out local sharks from bays of the camps. They simply cannot cope with the thick skin of a reptile, and retreat, giving up territory to a stronger predator.

The saltwater crocodile has special glands that help the animal remove excess salt from the body. Therefore, he feels great in salt water, but still prefers to be in warm water most of the time. fresh waters mangroves and calm river lagoons. They are loners by nature. If an uninvited guest enters the territory of a crocodile, there will be a fierce fight. Crocodiles fight to the death. It is not uncommon for the loser to miss a limb, or even die. These are one of the most aggressive animals towards their relatives. Adult males can only put up with the presence of several females on their territory, and then, they can only transfer their company during the mating period.

Being a super predator, the combed crocodile feeds on everything that it can “reach out to”. The diet depends on the habitat. The reptile attacks large land mammals- bulls, buffaloes, horses, etc. Hunts in salt water big fish. There is evidence of successful shark hunting. Young crocodiles feed on other reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and crustaceans. There are also cannibal crocodiles. Easily cracks down on crocodiles of other species - Australian and marsh.

Every year, there are many cases of attacks of marine crocodiles on humans. In Australia, the combed predator suffers from the teeth more people than from a great white shark, but lethal outcome ends with only 1-2 cases per year (in Malaysia, more than 100 people die from crocodile attacks every year). It is believed that the reptile attacks a person not so much because of hunger, but for defensive purposes - guarding its egg laying or defending the territory. It has been noticed that in places where a person appears often, the aggressiveness of a crocodile is much weaker. The reptile gets used to human society and warns a person in advance about its presence threatening posture. But if a crocodile rarely sees a person, then he will try to attack an uninvited guest.

The most famous case of combed crocodiles attacking a person occurred on February 19, 1945, when almost 1,000 Japanese army soldiers were killed in the water off Ramri Island.

« About a thousand Japanese soldiers tried to repel the attack of the landing of the Royal navy Great Britain ten miles from the coast, in the mangrove swamps, where thousands of crocodiles live. Twenty soldiers were later captured alive, but most were eaten by crocodiles. The hellish situation of the retreating soldiers was aggravated by the huge number of scorpions and tropical mosquitoes that also attacked them, ”the Guinness book says. Naturalist Bruce Wright, participating in the battle on the side of the English battalion, claimed that the crocodiles ate most of the soldiers of the Japanese detachment: “This night was the most terrible of those that any of the soldiers had ever experienced. Scattered in the black swamp slush, bloody, screaming Japanese, crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the strange disturbing sounds of spinning crocodiles represented a cacophony of hell. Such a spectacle, I think, few could observe on earth. At dawn, the vultures flew in to clean up what the crocodiles had left...of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers who entered the Rami swamps, only about 20 were found alive»

The bad reputation of the saltwater crocodile (sometimes justified) was an excuse for uncontrolled hunting of the reptile. In some places of the planet, it was completely destroyed. Currently, there is no crocodile in Thailand and Sri Lanka. The number of predators in India and Vietnam is minimal. Regulated hunting since the late 1970s has prevented the complete destruction of the reptile. Currently, there are enough crocodiles in the wild not to fear for the conservation of the species, but it is still listed in the International Red Book.

Man highly appreciates (and pays for) crocodile skin. A delicacy is fried crocodile meat. For these purposes, crocodiles are bred on special crocodile farms.