Sep

27

2007
 
 

Snap nav



Fearsome predators display exceptional navigational skills, tracking study shows

No place like homeSaltwater crocodiles Crocodylus porosus have a remarkable ability to find their way home across great distances, according to a study making use of the latest satellite tracking technology. A group of scientists – led by Craig Franklin at the University of Queensland – describe in PLoS ONE how they caught and tagged three large male salties, then transported them 56, 99 and 411 km along the Australian coastline. After a short period of hanging around their new gaffs, all three males set off back home with unnerving accuracy. The findings represent the longest known homeward travel by a crocodilian, and should make public health officials think twice before translocating potentially dangerous crocs away from human settlements: it looks like they’ll just swim straight back! Source: Read MA, Grigg GC, Irwin SR, Shanahan D & Franklin CE (2007) Satellite tracking reveals long distance coastal travel and homing by translocated estuarine crocodiles, Crocodylus porosus. PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000949

Related stories in Conservation magazine: Tour de Turtle | Taking the Bite out of Wildlife Damage

Image © Peter Scheunis

Filed Under Habitat, Marine, Monitoring, Socio-political issues, Tools and technology | 

Email This Post Email This Post

Comments

Leave a Reply