One Winnahh

[baggygreen]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25170374-13762,00.html

Personally, I'm glad not to be on the receiving end of this.

The photo accompanying the story is a great one of a fascinating creature, whose lineage traces directly back to the dinosaurs.

[Platapus]

You gotta love the beauty of the Balance of Nature. :yeah:

[OneToughHerring]

That's like pitting a great white shark against an iguana. Pretty obvious which one is going to win.

[baggygreen]

OTH, you can't appreciate it for the raw strength of the animal? You can't appreciate that an amphibious (and comparatively slow) creature with immense bulk was able to snare a wholly water-bound killing machine, also honed genetically with 60 million years of evolution, which also happens to be up to 3 or 4 times faster through the water than a croc?

The point was not big woop, a croc caught a shark 1/3 its size. It was to try and get people to stop and think for a few moments about how nature works, and maybe think what we'll be like after 60m years of evolution..

[bookworm_020]

Don't they normally feed on American tourists???:hmmm:

[OneToughHerring]

OTH, you can't appreciate it for the raw strength of the animal? You can't appreciate that an amphibious (and comparatively slow) creature with immense bulk was able to snare a wholly water-bound killing machine, also honed genetically with 60 million years of evolution, which also happens to be up to 3 or 4 times faster through the water than a croc?

The point was not big woop, a croc caught a shark 1/3 its size. It was to try and get people to stop and think for a few moments about how nature works, and maybe think what we'll be like after 60m years of evolution..
Yea I think salt water crocs are pretty cool, immense beasts and I would not want to go anywhere near the water in their territory. Up to seven meters in lenght? Huge bugger. I saw this movie about a croc in Africa named Gustave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_%28crocodile%29), it was pretty big too and based on reality, a man-eater croc.

Edit. Although even small sharks are no joke. Even when the biggest dog bites you, it just bites you. However when even a small shark bites you, it bites a piece off. That's what makes sharks special.

And the salt water crocs attack humans too. (http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,25175019-5006003,00.html)

[baggygreen]

I've seen reports of 8 and 9 m salties, up to 1.5m or even 2m wide. frightening stuff. Yet they're obviously a species which has reached the pinnacle of its design, a finished product of nature, if you will. Magnificent beasts.

You just won't ever catch me swimming in salt water further north than townsville!:D