ABOUT CROCODILES

Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1927, Page 4

ABOUT CROCODILES

; BABIES THAT HITE FROM BIRTH. (By A. .M. WARM SKY, in the London “ Daily Mail.”) KANDY, Ceylon. In the course of a crocodile shooting expedition in the north-west province of Coyfon I - recently came upon what was to me a new and curio nr bit of natural history. The village hoys pointed out to my companion and me a place in thick jungle where there was a mound, quite smooth. They swore that a crocodile slept there every night and that there must be eggs in it. Of course we din not believe them, hut out of curiosity I (lit a path through the thorns with my hunting knife, and sure enough we found claw marks and other signs. We sent to the village for a hoe, and the hoys started digging, while' we waited nervously with rifles ready in | ease the parent returned to see who | was digging up her eggs. At last, two or three feet down, we came upon eggs i —;i dozen or so—buried deep among tree roots. Then we saw a small baby come out of the earth and start struggling. We noosed him and pulled him out. My companion tried to stroke him and got bitten for his pains. I had told him a crocodile In't from birth, hut he would not believe me till then. Wei carried the baby off and three eggs, | hoping the latter would hatch out. Next morning we put the three eggs and the baby on a table and photographed them, 'the baby kept crying, making a curious little noise rather like a chicken’s cheep, hut full of vibration. Tt appears that when the - mother crocodile is lying on her mound she hears this little underground cry and digs clown to release the prisoner. Then the baby jumps into her mouth, and she carries it to the tank or pond where she lives. The natives' believe that the crocodile swallows her young, and it is clear how the story arose.