On our Jungle Crocodile Safari on the Tarcoles River we saw numerous birds, monkeys and yes, crocodiles. The crocodiles build nests in the soft sandy sides of the river to lay their eggs. They made a road with their bodies dragging themselves out of the river up the bank. They dig, lay the eggs and then cover the holes after the eggs are planted and walk away. I guess they recognize the spot, but by some sense we did not learn about.
Usually I needed the guide to point out the creature whose partial head, eyes and nose were above the water and resembled a pieces of wood floating in the river. This time the guide the guide pointed and shouted “Look!” And there was a balloon-like something with most of the body submerged. When we were almost to the international boundary with Nicaragua, we saw the lump in the water. It turned out to be a dead crocodile!
Below are 3 photos – the first shows the dead animal with two front legs and his rear right leg, the second shows the head of a second crocodile at work on the left leg, the third shows a stump for the missing leg.
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The bloated animal had all four stubby legs pointed straight up in the air like a cartoon. As we went closer we saw the head off another crocodile, he was eating off one of the legs!!!
We learned that the crocodiles are very aggressive and the males fight one another for territory and for females. The guide thought that the winner here was “Mike Tyson” a large male know as a great predator and boss of this part of the river.
daily woodring 