Surfing Crocs Ride The Waves in Australia!

Surfing crocs ride the waves in Australia!

Planning to travel around Australia this year? You may well be joined by a rather surprising traveller for new data gathered shows that saltwater crocodiles often make long journeys around the Australian coastline.

The crocodile, which is a poor swimmer, has been found to be ‘surfing’ the waves in Australia and using ocean currents to travel hundreds of kilometres around the Australian coast – a feat that had previously had scientists puzzled.

The late Steve Irwin, before his death, pioneered a revolutionary way of catching the crocs that amounted to minimal stress to the animal and a high success rate of attaching sensors to the crocs that allowed scientists to track their movements. What the scientists discovered was that the great croc was quite the seasoned traveller!

Of the animals tagged a group of 20 crocodiles from the North Kennedy River in Queensland, which is a tidal river, and discovered that 8 of the crocs were adventurous enough to venture into open waters and let the tide take them to different areas of the coastline. One croc even made it as far as the west coast of Cape York Peninsula which is a distance of 590km.

The reason the crocs can travel such huge distances in Australia is down to several variations. They can live in saltwater for long periods without eating or drinking, meaning that they would only have to concentrate on riding the current to get from one place to another. They only travel in tidal districts and only when the current is in their favour.

The scientists also discovered that the crocs seem to know exactly where in Australia they are travelling to. One croc rode the currents from the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula and when he arrived at Torres Strait the currents had changed and were flowing in the opposite direction, so the croc sheltered in a cove until the currants were once again flowing in the direction he wanted to go before resuming his journey to the west coast of Cape York. That’s a journey of 411km.

Many crocs also intelligently waited for ideal time before setting out on their holidays in Australia. They would set out within the first hour of the tide changing so that they could, quite literally, ride the waves.

So next time you are out surfing in Australia, don’t be too surprised to see a saltwater crocodile riding the waves with you. After all, every animal needs a holiday once in a while!

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