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Najakcharmer -> RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! (9/7/2006 8:29:19 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: evyy
more to the point, alligators are not crocodiles! any more then a billby is a rabit, croc's attack people, croc's kill people, croc's cannot be tamed, and cannot be trusted, they can be 'handled' but it dont matter how much you think you know what your doing, you dont risk a baby on it. he should be forgiven for it, everyone is allowed moments of stupidity, but that dosnt change the fact that it was stupid
In general, the two alligator species (sinensis and mississipiensis) are considered the most even tempered of crocodilians and the easiest to work with, but it's dangerous to make too many generalities. An alligator is just as capable as any other crocodilian of getting unhappy or defensive or hungry, and many crocodiles can become quite human habituated and easy to work with, especially if they are deliberately conditioned for behavioral management as most zoos are currently doing. It's just plain easier to behaviorally manage crocs than to do it physically.
Crocodilian brains are four times as neurally dense as mammalian brains, which translates to rather more brainpower than most people would think due to the relatively small size of the organ. Their social structure and range of communicative vocalizations is remarkably complex, as is their ability to learn new and adaptive behaviors. It would be fairly unwise to consider any dangerous wild animal to be truly "tame", or completely predictable in their behavior. But you can get away with quite a bit when working around a well habituated and conditioned crocodilian of any species. Your safety margin and the animal's tolerance will vary by species and by individual, and if a feeding response is triggered, feeding behavior *will* ensue even in a well human habituated crocodilian. What triggers reptile feeding behavior can vary, but there are a few things that are pretty good bets for doing it. Little wiggling bite sized prey items are fairly high on the list.
It's feeding behavior more than anything else that is usually the risk factor when working around reptiles which are otherwise unlikely to be aggressive towards their keepers. I would be very concerned that even in a "tame" (well habituated to human keepers) croc, feeding behavior could definitely be triggered by a temptingly bite sized prey item. The croc has no way of knowing that the keeper isn't bringing in a tasty food treat, and no means of understanding that it's okay to eat a skinned nutria but not a "human pinky".
Humans are right on the edge of the appropriate prey size profile for large crocodilians, so it is true that crocs sometimes attack people. It's also true that crocodilians get a bum rap a lot of the time because they are scavengers. If someone drowns or otherwise ends up dead in the water, the local crocodilians aren't going to pass up the free meal, and the remains may be found as croc or gator leftovers. At this point, determining the original cause of death can be a bit difficult, but the reptiles generally get the blame, and it's probably not warranted in all of these cases.
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