Australian study finds crocodiles surf the seas

The research by a group of Australian ecologists published this week in the British Ecological Society's "Journal of Animal Ecology" explains how the world's largest living reptile came to occupy so many South Pacific islands despite having little stamina for swimming.

Like a surfer catching a wave, estuarine crocodiles - which can grow up to 20 feet (6 meters) - can ride currents to cross hundreds of miles (kilometers) of open sea, study author Hamish Campbell said.

The research began in 2002 in the tropics of Australia's Queensland state and involved environmentalist and television personality Steve Irwin, the so-called Crocodile Hunter who was killed by a stingray barb off Queensland in 2006.

Campbell, a University of Queensland ecologist, teamed up with government rangers and the Irwin family's Australia Zoo to tag 27 adult crocodiles in the remote Kennedy River.

They used sonar transmitters and underwater receivers to track their movements over 12 months.

Campbell said a 20-minute swim is hard work for a crocodile, so he was surprised that eight of the tagged crocodiles repeatedly took long journeys out to sea from their river home area that was more than 35 miles (60 kilometers) upstream; Kazinform cites the Arab News.

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