Fascinating crocodile find stuns Aussie adventurer: 'Wouldn't have a clue'
You'll know you're in croc country when you spot one of these.
An outdoorsman's unusual discovery has blown minds after he realised that a large black ball of hair he had in his hands was coughed up by a crocodile. Queenslander Nick Fry shared a video of his hairy find, stating that he'd stepped over the object while he was exploring a lake with his friend.
"I wouldn't have had a clue in the world what this is, but apparently this is a croc hairball," Fry told his Instagram followers. "So basically they struggle to digest hair, hooves and things like that, and it accumulates in their stomach and they end up coughing up, basically, a hairball. So this is a whole chunk of pig hair that was in a croc's gut that I hold in my hand right now. I didn't know crocs did that. That is insane."
The clip was subsequently shared in a Facebook group for crocodile enthusiasts, including many who didn't realise the reptiles had something in common with domestic cats. "Now crocs are a little more cute than they were before I knew this. Only a little though," one fan responded, while another commented, "Learn something new every day!"
'Natural behaviour'
Wildlife expert Brian Coulter, former apprentice to Steve Irwin, confirmed this behaviour is perfectly normal for crocodiles. "It definitely is because they can't digest stuff like feral pig hair," Coulter told Yahoo News Australia, confirming that hairballs sit in a croc's gut before being regurgitated.
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Saltwater crocodiles, Coulter added, are more likely to cough up hairballs as they tend to feed on mammals and relatively large prey like feral pigs. "Salties definitely cough up big hairballs or undigestible matter. It's very natural behaviour to cough those up."
Saltwater crocs are the largest living reptiles in the world, with adult males growing up to six metres in length and weighing anything from 1,000 to 1,200 kilograms. They're also expert hunters, thanks to millions of years of evolution, and can live up to 70 years.
They are usually found in coastal waters, estuaries, lakes, inland swamps and marshes across Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. While they mostly eat fish, saltwater crocodiles tend to eat anything they can overpower, which can include snakes, birds, cattle and wild boar.
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