

(This doesn’t mean that the caiman can’t, or won’t, but only that it didn't under the circumstances of the trials.) All the rest did, which runs contrary to prior assumptions. Only a single species out of 25 – Cuvier’s dwarf caiman – didn’t death roll under either circumstance. Each test animal was presented with two different behavioral cues during the study – a bait on which resistance would be applied after a bite, and the second was a rope or pole normally used to capture crocs which often prompts the animals to try to escape. Some were animals transferred from other places, some were born at the park, and others were captured as “nuisance” animals, the researchers write, carrying between them a variety of backgrounds and even anatomies related to their life history. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida. The crocs volunteered for the project represented 25 living species, all held at the St. All modern species, save for one, can do the death roll. But when Drumheller, James Darlington, and Kent Vliet went straight to the source – studying living crocs presented with bait and capture tools – the researchers found something different. The same was thought to be true for extinct species. Up until now, paleontologist Stephanie Drumheller and colleagues note, experts have assumed that only “generalist” crocodylians with long, broad snouts death rolled. If we can understand a bit more about the modern incarnation of the death roll, perhaps we can get a better idea of whether crocs of the past employed the same terrible twirls. Not to mention the burgeoning ranks of fossilized snappers, including monsters like the 40 foot-long alligator relative Deinosuchus. The process is so fascinating that the flashes of white teeth and red innards are deemed suitable for broadcast, even if momentarily.ĭo all crocs do this? American alligators, saltwater crocodiles, and Nile crocodiles have gotten a fair amount of press for the skill, but there are over 20 other living species. The behavior is the powerful and violent twisting that wrenches limbs from sockets and muscle from bone when a crocodylian clamps onto a morsel and does its best impression of a washer on spin cycle. If you grew up watching David Attenborough specials, you’ve probably heard the term over slow-motion footage of crocodiles tearing wildebeest apart. Why use an easy-to-understand or evocative word when an opaque and overwrought phrase will do? But there are exceptions.
