Crocodile Encounter

Imagine a crocodile in a river that spots a dead buffalo floating on the water. Seeing a free meal it swims closer. The buffalo is a big animal, however, so where to start? The crocodile decides to eat the leg first.

What do we do when we want to eat the leg of, say, a whole roast chicken? We twist it off from the chicken’s body before we can eat it.

And so it is with the crocodile - he has to twist off the leg before he can eat it. But he has no hands, only a mouth full of sharp teeth and a strong jaw. So how does he separate the buffalo’s leg?

Here is how. He grabs the leg tightly with his sharp teeth. Then he rolls over, swiftly and violently, in the water, twisting off the buffalo’s leg from its body. The leg comes off and he can now eat it.

It is a display of raw, primeval animal power. Leg inside its big mouth, he repeatedly opens and swings it shut with his powerful jaws, crushing the tissue and bones. After a few bites, the leg is dispatched to the crocodile’s stomach.

Spellbound, tourists in a boat in the South Alligator River in northern Australia’s Kakadu National Park watch this drama, myself among them.

These boat rides are a highlight of a visit to this park. They offer an opportunity to see crocodiles in the wild like no other place in the world, because the river is full of them. Just before departure the captain instructs us emphatically: in case the boat capsizes, do NOT leave it under any circumstance.

The boat departs just as the sun rises. The soft orange light illuminates the river and its banks. There are fields on both sides – with many types of grass – that are dry now but inundated in the wet season, much like our Haors. Occasionally we spot a familiar site from home: a Water Buffalo. There is, however, a crucial difference. The buffaloes in Bangladesh are harmless. Australia’s buffaloes, which were brought here over a century ago, have gone feral and are dangerous. They attack people.

But the main attraction is the crocodile. These are Estuarine Crocodiles, the same species one sees in Sundarban. In my travels through Australia, I was amazed at their preponderance. One has to be extremely cautious around any water body and many beaches. Even isolated ponds are not safe because crocodiles may have arrived during flooding.

Back on the boat, no one seems to know why the carcass of the young buffalo is floating in the river, but the crocodiles don’t care. While there are several waiting in the wings, it is only the largest crocodile, positioned close to the legs, that eats. When a smaller one comes near the head, it garners a nasty snarl from the big guy and retreats hastily, joining the others waiting for their turn.

The crocodile works on the leg. The crunching sound crushing bones makes us wince. Finishing its first leg, it starts working on another.

Finally it rests, sated. The show is over and our boat moves forward to more bucolic and peaceful scenes.

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