Richprins wrote:oooh! Those teeth are incredibly sharp! Closed an old skull on one of my kids once, and he complained!
Then tried it on myself! Ouch!
Luckily it was a skull...
Crocodiles have a palatal flap, a rigid tissue at the back of the mouth that blocks the entry of water.
The palate has a special path from the nostril to the glottis that bypasses the mouth.
The nostrils are closed during submergence
Their tongues are not free, but held in place by a membrane that limits movement; as a result, crocodiles are unable to stick out their tongues.
Crocodiles have the most acidic stomach of any vertebrate. They can easily digest bones, hooves and horns
To help with digestion, crocodiles swallow small stones that grind up the food in their stomachs.
Thanks to their slow metabolisms, crocodiles can survive for months without food
Crocodiles have sharp teeth.
Crocodiles are polyphyodonts and able to replace each of their 80 teeth
up to 50 times in their 35 to 75-year lifespan.
Next to the full grown tooth there are a small replacement tooth and a odontogenic stem cell in the dental lamina in standby that can be activated if required
Crocodiles are the most social of reptiles.
Even though they do not form social groups, many species congregate in certain section of a rivers, tolerating each other at times of feeding and basking.
Most species are not highly territorial.
A mature male will not tolerate any other males at any time of the year. Most of the species however, are more flexible.
There is a certain form of hierarchy in crocodiles, where the largest and heaviest males are at the top; having access to the best basking site, females and priority during a group feeding of a big kill or carcass.
Crocodiles are also the most vocal of all reptiles, producing a wide variety of sounds during various situations and conditions, depending on species, age, size and sex.
Depending on the context, some species can communicate over 20 different messages through vocalizations alone.
Some of these vocalizations are made during social communication, especially during territorial displays towards the same sex and courtship with the opposite sex; the common concern being reproduction.
Therefore most conspecific vocalization is made during the breeding season, with the exception being year-round territorial behavior in some species and quarrels during feeding.
Crocodiles also produce different distress calls and in aggressive displays to their own kind and other animals; notably other predators during interspecific predatory confrontations over carcasses and terrestrial kills.
Specific vocalisations include -
Chirp:
When about to hatch, the young make a “peeping” noise, which encourages the female to excavate the nest. The female then gathers the hatchlings in her mouth and transports them to the water, where they remain in a group for several months, protected by the female
Distress call:
A high-pitched call mostly used by younger animals that alerts other crocodiles to imminent danger or an animal being attacked.
Threat call:
A hissing sound that has also been described as a coughing noise.
Hatching call:
Emitted by females when breeding to alert other crocodiles that she has laid eggs in her nest.
Bellowing:
Male crocodiles are especially vociferous. Bellowing choruses occur most often in the spring when breeding groups congregate, but can occur at any time of year.
To bellow, males noticeably inflate as they raise the tail and head out of water, slowly waving the tail back and forth.
They then puff out the throat and with a closed mouth, begin to vibrate air.
Just before bellowing, males project an infrasonic signal at about 10 Hz through the water which vibrates the ground and nearby objects. These low-frequency vibrations travel great distances through both air and water to advertise the male's presence and are so powerful they result in the water appearing to 'dance’
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