Predation
Troy Kelley (tkelley@hel4.brl.mil)
Mon, 30 Oct 1995 15:38:23 GMT
As far as this crocodile thing is concerned, I hope Jim Moore won't mind
if we laid it to rest.
Jim keeps insisting that crocs don't respond to threat displays. But I
would bet you that if I had a big sharp stick and some big rocks, that I
could make a croc's life pretty miserable if I wanted to. Also, even
though "land-based" predators respond to threat displays, they don't
respond to "all" threat displays "all" the time. I know that a hungry
pride of lions is not going to be scared off to easily by a band of
medium sized apes, just because a few of the bigger males are waving some
sticks in the air. Threat displays are usually done by the bigger males,
and the result is that predators don't attack the bigger males, but
instead attack the old/weak/young. Isn't that simple enough jim?
Besides the points about threat displays, the conclusions I thought we
had reached as a group are that there are aquatic environments that exist
were crocodiles do not inhabit.
The first was the shoreline of an ocean which has significant wave
action. I know jim we went around and around on the fact that crocodiles
can tolerate salt water. And I know they can. If they get accidentially
washed out to sea, they won't immediately die. But you posted yourself
the information that said the "salt water crocodile" was actually a
mis-nomer, and that the animal lives in fresh/bracish water. I think we
all know that you are not likely to find a crocodile swimming around in
the open ocean. Crocodiles need land to sun themselves and lay eggs and
probably a lot of other activities. Besides that, whether or not you
would find crocs in the ocean is beside the point, they are obviously not
designed to handle the wave action of a costline. They are predators who
lie in wait of unsuspecting prey to wonder by. Their eyes and nostrials
are designed for calm water swimming. They would not be very effective
"surfing" through waves to try and find a meal.
Secondly, someone who's name escapes me, posted some interesting
information about whether crocs would be in mountain lakes. They are not
about to climb up the side of a mountain to inhabit a cold mountain lake.
So, there are places where crocodiles aren't. And judging from these two
catagories, mountain lakes and ocean shorelines, both these environments
would be suitable to an aquatic ape. And there are plenty of areas in
Africa that fit these two catagories.
So give it a break Jim.
Troy Kelley
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