A Visit to a Crocodile Farm

Teny writes......

On Friday Jerry and I visited Hartley's Crocodile Farm in the middle of the Rainforest north of Cairns. This was so interesting, educational, and worthwhile!

What do you call a group of crocodiles? A bask of crocodiles

In the wild, only 1% of baby crocodiles survive. On this farm, 96% survive. Eggs are incubated and hatched, and the baby crocodiles grow to almost 2 meters in 3 years. Adult crocodiles are about 3 to 4 meters in length and are raised at this farm for their skins and meat.
Here I am touching a little crocodile. As you can see, his mouth is tied shut so he can't harm anyone.

On the boat ride, we watched the driver pole-feed crocodiles living in the river. He tied a piece of raw chicken to his pole, dipped it in the water, and waited for a crocodile to come. A crocodile senses its food rather than sees, hears, or smells it.

The crocodile reaches up out of the water to grab the chicken.

Missed! See his huge jaws? Their mouths open up to about 3 feet.

Try again.

Got it this time!

Crocodiles often rest with their mouths open in order to cool off, but they are always on the lookout for meat.

Crocodiles are very dangerous. If you get close, they will jump out of the water to grab you, and you will become their lunch. Apart from man, they have no natural enemies. Nothing eats crocodiles as they are pretty much at the top of their food chain, though a large, hungry crocodile could eat other, smaller ones.

Look out!

We also saw a koala bear here. Koalas sleep a lot.

I am petting an eastern grey kangaroo, quite small compared to the ones in the West.

A wallaby was willing to eat out of my hand. This mother wallaby has a joey in her pouch.

Another wallaby also wanted some food.

We have so enjoyed seeing and learning about the various animals at this farm. We stand amazed at God's beautiful creation in the trees, plants, animals, and birds here in Australia, and are grateful for the opportunity to experience it.