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courtesy of poplinre
Crocodilia is an order of large reptiles that appeared about 84 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period. They are the closest living relatives of birds, the only known living dinosaurs, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria. The correct vernacular term for this group is “crocodilians” and it includes the alligator, crocodile and gharial and caiman families. The term ‘crocodiles’ is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to alligators and caiman, or even their distant prehistoric relatives, “marine crocodiles”.
In the the latest post by Darren Naish he writes about the possibility that crocodilians may have fed their young.
As John described in a longer article (here), what appears to be feeding behaviour has been reported in other species, including the American alligator Alligator mississippiensis.
The post also features a video that show a female Siamese crocodile Crocodylus siamensis allows her babies to eat meat literally from her mouth.
So... what do you think? Please leave me a comment.
They certainly fed on their young. I also saw a program on television where they had been trained to come to their names much the way domesticated dogs do today. I hadn’t realized they could be trained in such a manner.
Great article!
When living together from a young age i know that many are happy to live in the same water hole in relative harmony, put a new crock in and he will be attacked, living in Broome Western Australia, i have met Malcom Douglas and been to both of his crocodile parks in my town. A little off the beaten track.
Of course they fed their young! Though, I have not seen such behavior personally, I can easily surmise they did so because the young are TOO young and small to be able to be good predators, and, plus, they’re vulnerable. It only makes sense.
Sorry…..intellectual moment. ;) lol!