1938972120 (N) by Robert Trivers

Author:Robert Trivers [Trivers, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Biosocial Research
Published: 2015-11-04T08:00:00+00:00

RAMMY AND ME. Glenroy leaning against me at Alligator Pond near his shop. (Trivers File Photo.)

What to Do When a Crocodile Comes Straight at You?

Someone asked Glenroy what he would do if a large crocodile were headed straight toward him at the surface of the water. You can bet we all leaned forward to hear his answer. After all, any of us might end up in this situation, and Glenroy's advice promised to replace blind panic with a sensible plan. As it so often is, the ideal plan turned out to be counterintuitive. Glenroy said he would face the crocodile, swim toward it, and then at the last moment dive deeply underneath it. The crocodile's problem, Glenroy explained, is that it has a very stiff backbone. It has tremendous strength in its tail and can propel itself rapidly on the surface or in a dive, but it has a very limited maneuverability and can turn only a few degrees at a time. Thus, the croc would not be able to dive after you, somersaulting so as to chase you immediately from behind. Sideways turning would take quite some time, during which it would be swept further in the direction of its forward movement, giving you even more time to reach safety after surfacing.

And what if the crocodile dove as it approached you? Your response would depend on how far away it was. If only twenty meters, you would still swim toward the croc, but now stay right at the surface and rapidly pass over it. Here, Glenroy made some loud, splashing kind of swimming motions at the surface. You were at no time trying to hide from the croc, just to get out of its way in a manner that would leave it a hard task if it meant to pursue you.

The good news was, it rarely wanted to. In fact, the croc's limited mobility is what makes it so unfortunate to run into one of these creatures in the first place. Imagine you are swimming upstream and a crocodile is moving at a good clip straight towards you. Its response to anything in its way is to open its mouth and keep coming. It may be able to steer around an object but it still does not wish to create new steering problems for itself further downstream. The problem, Glenroy said, is that, "You're in his way!" Here a little bit of righteous anger crept into Glenroy's voice, so animated was he in discussing life from the crocodile's viewpoint. There is a natural traffic along the river's flow and you are not abiding by it. Glenroy explained that he watched very carefully the direction of movement of any croc coming toward him and simply swam so as to increase the distance at which they passed. He showed how in some cases a croc must take a unique path to its underwater hole, certain approaches being foreclosed by its inability to make sharp turns. Every croc has its own river hole, he explained, and it is best for your safety to find out where it is.

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