Dedicated to my Friends at Delete Me!
Muggers also called Marsh Crocodiles
Crocodylus palustris
You can readily make out who the boss is. He just climbs over everyone else and lunges first when lunch is announced.
The crocodiles have such a low metabolic rate and conserve energy in a superb fashion. They need a good meal just twenty times a year. While you see crocodiles mostly lying still and quiet, they are capable of moving pretty fast. And surprisingly they can run too.
These are marsh crocodiles also called muggers.
For an entirely different take on this pit, see this.
This picture happens to be the most interesting picture in Flickr with the tag Croc.
See all the crocodile pictures in this stream.
Comments and faves
Sparkyfaisca, Small, Sparkle Rae, Jeff Clow, and 83 other people added this photo to their favorites.
-Ant (84 months ago | reply)
Great picture, I presume you didn't try and get a close up shot.
Pandiyan (84 months ago | reply)
I had no intention of becoming his lunch whatsoever! But I do have a closer shot which only dentists can stomach. Thank heavens for modern zoom lenses.
vsz (84 months ago | reply)
wow, this image invokes fear for me. what an amazing shot!
Sparkyfaisca (84 months ago | reply)
Fav amazing foto
shivanayak (84 months ago | reply)
thats so many.
Small (84 months ago | reply)
Wow, great shot! A bit like an indignant restaurant guest: "Where's my order?!" :-)
aarthyr (84 months ago | reply)
haha, definitely an awesome capture. Wow, so many. AHhh.
Pandiyan (84 months ago | reply)
Thanks folks.
vsz - as it is with tigers and sharks, crocodiles have more to fear us than the other way around!
shivnayak - captive breeding done in this farm is highly successful and in this pit alone they have 390.
sparkyfaisca - thanks for the encouraging comment.
Small - Bullies everywhere. This guy will not let anybody eat before he gets to. Others have to a risk limb to challenge him.
Aarthy - I am sure you are not as scared of crocs as you are with butterflies!
SuperDave!! (84 months ago | reply)
Great shot.
dolphin_dolphin (84 months ago | reply)
Oh!! Amazing photo!!
yeimaya (84 months ago | reply)
Pandiyan: "as it is with tigers and sharks, crocodiles have more to fear us than the other way around!"
How sadly true!
What are the circumstances of these crocodiles? I know the Dogon people in Mali believe the crocodile is sacred and live pretty peacefully with a large population right near their village. I think the feed them also.
robert madeira (84 months ago | reply)
what a mug! great shot!! hope you had a tele lens...
flork (84 months ago | reply)
great shot, the first thing that would com up in my head shut be somethinge like: RUN!!! :p
Jeff Clow (84 months ago | reply)
An absolutely amazing shot.....and an instant favorite of mine....
GREAT photo work by you and your lens....that wide open mouth in the foreground is superb....!
Glisglis (84 months ago | reply)
Wow, this is really excellent!! =D It makes a great impact - because of both the huge number of crocodiles, and the impact of the close, large mouth of the central one =D
Pandiyan (84 months ago | reply)
Thanks my dear friends.
yeimaya - These crocodiles are from a breeding farm.
In India, just as in most places crocodiles are feared as animals and wild habitats are slowly getting reduced. Though in captive well run farms they thrive, there are not many wild places they can be released as they conflict with humans.
robert - Though I had a tele lens, I was only about 3 feet away. But he had already extended himself and getting bloked by the pit wall and I was safe.
flork - Crocs usually attack in waters. On land, it is usually the case of female crocs which get angry when they are protecting the eggs.
And do you know that crocs can run fast!
CellarDoor (84 months ago | reply)
great capture!
mutbka (83 months ago | reply)
What a great shot! And quite nightmarish too! =[
Are you sure they do not attack on land? I wouldn't volunteer to find out!
Pandiyan (83 months ago | reply)
Normally when they feed, they take their prey close to water. Mostly they drown them to kill. However, they come to land for nesting and can be pretty aggressive at that time.
Anyway, they are animals with lower order intelligence and they are pretty huge and strong. They can move fast when they want to. So you can't take chances unless you are Steve Irwin or Mark O'Shea!
Broken Lens (83 months ago | reply)
This is a wild shot! Someone call National Geographic!!
Pandiyan (83 months ago | reply)
Broken Lens - Thanks. You might be interested in the Group In the Style of National Geographic.
flork (83 months ago | reply)
yup, i know that they can run fast :)
but i'v never seen ah real croc...:(
but your foto give's me the feeling that he is going to jump out of the screen to eat me...great shot
wifeofvolsfan (83 months ago | reply)
These are cute!
Denkrahm (83 months ago | reply)
fantastic!!
kartoffel (83 months ago | reply)
Amazing shot!! I hope you are not his food :-)
Pandiyan (83 months ago | reply)
Thanks folks.
AnomalousNYC (83 months ago | reply)
I love this one because it makes me look at these scary reptiles the same way I would at a nest fill of newborn mammals. just desperately hungry hungry hungry!
martytdx (83 months ago | reply)
great shot - 3' is a lot closer to a hungry croc than I would like to get.
timpppa (83 months ago | reply)
amazing!
Pandiyan (83 months ago | reply)
Thanks folks.
Crocodiles are really hungry when they are hungry because they eat not daily but weekly or even monthly. And they survive.
They are not as dangerous as they look, surprisingly. Though I must admit I had a concrete barrier in between. However, you might like to look at this picture.
The Grand Poohbar (82 months ago | reply)
great pic i don't know if it's super fantastic. i might try cutting out the pond at the top.
have been pushed ot save me by the title.
-voted as "saveme" (from the Delete me! group)
malibuhealer (82 months ago | reply)
yeah I was working on a tighter crop I gave up on. could use a little burning too, but still a remarkable capture, and impactful photo.
-voted as "saveme" (from Delete me! grou
paddysat (82 months ago | reply)
Bottom line: Excelent photograph. Sure some cropping could happen and a boost in the contrast from the background and the "gaping maw" might improve it for my tastes but...who cares! Well done.
-voted as "saveme3" (from the Delete me! group)
arturlr (82 months ago | reply)
How did you take back your camera from the crocodiles? You cold crop the grass, but it's a great picture.
Danny Playami (82 months ago | reply)
Great shot !
-voted as "saveme" (from Delete me! group)
malibuhealer (82 months ago | reply)
that's pretty close to the crop I was gonna suggest.
studio.es (82 months ago | reply)
great moment but too busy, try this crop, keep it simple.
-voted as "deleteme" (from the Delete me! group)
smitty2100 (82 months ago | reply)
I really like it. Good shot.
Nur2005 (82 months ago | reply)
ayyyy, who is his dentist?
Beachy (82 months ago | reply)
Great capture of the moment, but all the impact is lost in the flat, dull lighting. What a shame!
-voted as "deleteme2" (from the Delete me! group)
TvR (82 months ago | reply)
uninteresting
voted as "deleteme" (from Delete me! group)
JochenB (82 months ago | reply)
i would corp away the green stuff in corner, but anyway its a great shot
-voted as "saveme6" (from the Delete me! group)
katuki (82 months ago | reply)
how scary! i like the composition
-voted as "saveme7" (from Delete me! group)
Kristina J. [deleted] (82 months ago | reply)
heheh...suggested crop would work much better.
The green of the grass is distracting from the beasts.
-voted as "deleteme" (from Delete me! group)
the employee (82 months ago | reply)
do crocodiles have protective camouflage? because the crocodile in the front kind of blend into the other ones.
-voted as "deleteme" (from Delete me! group)
DoubleGrande (82 months ago | reply)
Kind of cool, and the good humor in the title and description are nice. Still, for me it's usually eyes that make animal shots, unless there's some overriding purpose ot other action. I don't feel close enough to the open-mouthed mugger to feel like it's directed right at me. The angle on him and the field of mostly docile-looking other muggers kills the threat. To work I think I'd have to feel I took a wrong turn in the jungle. Instead I feel more like I had to pee on the Interstate in Alabama and paid the entry fee at the croc farm to use the restroom.
-voted as "deleteme" (from the Delete Me! group)
DoubleGrande (82 months ago | reply)
BTW, to comments about grass, it's green water. Look at it large and you can spot swimming muggers.
JuanCP [deleted] (82 months ago | reply)
I agree with the comments above. Too flat and I don't like the light.
But I do love the capture. Great Moment.
But...
-voted as "deleteme" (from the Delete Me! group)
Orlando Furioso (82 months ago | reply)
Too much of crocodiles/ Good for Discovery
-voted as "deleteme" (from Delete me! group)
Jim Skea (82 months ago | reply)
Too much a confusion of crocs. The foreground is poorly separated from the background by the flat lighting.
Voted deleteme9 (from Delete Me! group)