18th October 2007
More drizzle this morning, but that was it. Still watching the rain clouds build up and then fritter away or pass over to the north of us.
Two crocodiles chose to have a fight right below our balcony this afternoon. It was a slow-motion kind of affair, interlaced with sudden spurts of intense action. A lot of time was spent lying side by side, or head to head, eyeing up each other, their open-mouthed grimaces seeming more like morbid toothy grins. Then, as if without warning, the pair would launch a sudden frenzied series of attacks, one upon the other. In the end, after half an hour or so of sparring like this, one of the crocodiles just eased off down river – presumably the contest’s loser.
That’s the eerie thing about crocodiles, they just melt away…
Tanya
Upon reading up on crocodile behaviour, it seems these crocodiles were not fighting at all but going through a mating ritual! When we observed the one crocodile blowing bubbles through its nose, apparently this is quite normal behaviour – the male does it to attract the female (imagine that, girls!). So, it seems all the commotion was in aid of love, not war… and I stand humbly corrected on my first assumption.
Tanya
in Crocodiles, Rain, Big Game (general)
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