McKinlay River Freshwater Crocodile Project 2001

The Army don't mess around with small ones

We recruited the Australian Army to assist for the final couple of weeks of the project. As expected, they proved to be adept and hard-working. Here two of them secure a rather large freshwater crocodile that has recently been captured in a net. The jaws have been secured after a rope was passed between them, enabling the crocodile to be tied up in a shady location before being measured.

You might notice that a lot of crocodiles in these photographs have their jaws secured with duct tape. A lot of people think duct tape sticks to crocodile skin and must really hurt when it's removed. In fact this is not true - it doesn't stick to crocodile skin at all! It does stick to itself, however, so once wound around the nose it holds the jaws together very effectively. It doesn't need to be done tightly, and it has no ill effects on the crocodile when tied properly.

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setting the scene | catching crocs | tying and measuring | a lot of work | want to take part?