Posted on 05/19/2016 7:09:04 PM PDT by EveningStar
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Step aside, Burmese python — you may no longer be Florida's scariest invasive species. Researchers have confirmed that three Nile crocodiles were captured near Miami, and they say it's possible more of the man-eating reptiles are still out there, although no one can say for sure.
The big question now: How did they get to Florida?
"They didn't swim from Africa," University of Florida herpetologist Kenneth Krysko said. "But we really don't know how they got into the wild."
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
Open them to hunters and Florida will be scoured of crocs in a week.
Crocnado!
Geeze, 0bama is letting everything enter the US now.
The big question now: How did they get to Florida?
...
It’s Florida. Do they really have to ask?
Forget it Jake. It’s Florida.
The American crocodile, which is native to Florida, is nearly as large, but not as aggressive as the Nile species.
The Florida of my youth is officially gone.
I would assume the Nile crocs will eat the Everglades gators. And since the Nile crocs come from a muslim area it must be a muslim conspiracy. Only half kidding.
LOL! I cribbed that same line today, elsewhere. “Forget it Jake, it’s Massachusetts.”
(From the Wikipedia article) “On average, the adult male Nile crocodile is between 3.5 and 5 m (11 ft 6 in and 16 ft 5 in) in length and weighs 225 to 750 kg (496 to 1,653 lb).
However, specimens exceeding 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in) in length and weighing more than 1,090 kg (2,400 lb) have been recorded.
(From the article)”All three Nile crocodiles were captured in extreme South Florida.
— The first, a hatchling, was found on a front porch..
IOW - There is at least one breeding pair of adult crocs in South Florida.
(From the Wikipedia article) “On average, sexual maturity is obtained from 12 to 16 years of age. For males, the onset of sexual maturity occurs when they are about 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) long and mass of 155 kg (342 lb), being fairly consistent. ... On average, female sexual maturity occurs when they reach 2.2 to 3 m (7 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) in length.
“The female digs a hole a few metres from the bank and up to 500 mm (20 in) deep, and lays on average between 25 and 80 eggs.
You can get permits for exotic species here. Remember the guy maybe a year ago who had his pet king cobra get loose in Orlando? Wonder if someone had some and let them go. More likely they were smuggled in.
“The Nile crocodile is one of the most dangerous species of crocodile and is responsible for hundreds of deaths of humans every year. It is a rather common species of crocodile and is not endangered despite some regional declines or extinctions.”
Tarzan hated those guys.
How did they get to Florida?
Two words:
Hurricane Andrew
Someone’s little exotic pet croc ended up getting washed into the swamp, and the rest is history.
Well, hell, the dufus gov decided to introduce gators into our local creek which backs up to my old family home. If the cotton mouthes weren’s bad enough. Effin’ morons.
I wonder if one species of crocodile can interbreed with another breed of crocodile. I also wonder if alligators can breed with crocodiles.
Freegards
There is one on the ad during Hannity just now. He can’t reach the dinner check. Crispy duck?
I don’t know, Andrew was what 24 years ago? Think we would have noticed them before now.
I once read that American alligators and Chinese alligators are totally identical species.
Sort of “how is that possible” sort of thing.
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