Encounters with crocodiles Essay Example for Free

Encounters with crocodiles Essay I found the crocodiles so intresting that i soon got over my loathing for them and yet with possible exception of as they run the hyenas they must be the meanest creatures in the AFRICAN scene.They will never openly attack,and they will not defend their own eggs ; directly you attempt to land ,into the water they go.It was unwise however to stand to close to the river bank especially at dusk the crocodile lunge out at you with his paws ;instead,having observed you carefully from midstream ,hen swim submeged into the shallows ,and with a sudden like moment of his tail he sweeps you into the water. One of the African boys in the park had been taken like this a few days before we arrived ,and it was no rare thing ,we were told ,for baby elephants to meet their end in just this way when they came down to the river to drink. then the mother elephants goes ranging along the bank quite powerless to retaliate.The crocodiles itself shas mortal enemies ,and not many of the sixty or seventy eggs which female lays,like turtle ,in a hole in a sand bank are destined to survive .Having laid her eggs (they are rather like large white goose -eggs),the mother covers up the hole and then sometimes departs. This is the moment for the moniter lizard to creep out of the undergrowth to scrape the sand away and then to gorge himself .Even if the nest remains undiscovered the young crcodiles need a gold deal of luck to survive. They come struggling to the surface of the sand little ten_inch_long rubbery thing ,and make directly for the water , hissing and snapping as they run .On the bank the marabaou stork with the speed of sword_play flicks them into his long bill ; and if you care to watch you can see the wriggling passage of the young crocodile down the bird scraggy throat.Sometimes the mother crocodile will try to defend her young at this perilous moment ,and this is a facinating thing to see.The marabou, with elaborate unconcern stand in about six inches of water waiting for the next tit bit to come swimming by,and from about twenty yards away the mother crocodile watches :just two murderous eyes above the surface of the stream .Then silently she submerges and come up again about ten y ards from marabou .The bird takes no notice .And now ,having again goes down .This time she is coming in for the kill .it is a matter of about two seconds the marabou abstractely and casually takes a backward step . At the same instant the tremendous jaws of the crocodiles come rearing out of the river and snap together in the empty air at the prcise spot where he was standing .green water streaming off her back ,the crocodiles subsides into river again;and the bird steps back to res ume its meal QUESTIONS/ANSWERS: Q1:what enabled the writer to get over his loathing for the crcodiles? Q2:what do crcodiles do when a person attempts to land on the river bank ? Q3:what method does the crocodiles use to capture ots prey?