Interesting Email...

[africancichlidau]

I've handled a few crocs over the years and that could be real, could be fake. The only reason that I lean towards fake is the tongue, it does seem a bit clean and smooth for a real one but then again, it is only a photo so very difficult to tell.

 

[Nicole]

That looks like total plastic to me!
Too clean, too uniform, no disturbance in the water or marks in the mud from movement.

 

[Parko]

It's sitting on concrete not mud hence no disturbance. (I'm a concreter so I can tell concrete from mud allright) and has just been hosed down explaining the nice clean shine and has brushed his teeth and gargled explaining the nice clean tongue/teeth.

 

[Fuscus]

F=Not real R = Real
F : Colors look like model colors.
R : Looks like a real enclosure
R : forelimbs position match the terrain
F : Model could be in the position it was designed for
F : Tail disappears behind guys leg and doesn't reappear
F : Tail under the guy looks funny
R : Tail is in a position that a model maker is unlikley to use
F : possible cut and paste line under croc belly (unlikely)
R : Shadows appear right
R : The are no reports of a fake email doing the rounds that match this email
F : head and mouth too clean
F : A croc of that size would be terratorial (unless it has been in a fidge)


I'm undecided if this is real.

 

[marc]

apart from agro from the australian zoo thats the best looking croc I have ever seen...nice bel

 

[wattso]

eye and jaw look a bit odd. but why pose in a puddle with a fake? coulda been hosed clean.

 

[toxinologist]

Shane O'Brien is currently keeper of reptiles at Rainforestation Wildlife Park on the Kennedy Highway at Kuranda.

The crocodile "Jack" was purchased from Warren Entsch's crocodile farm near Fogg Dam in early 1996. I was the keeper who installed Jack at Rainforestation on his arrival.

Cheers!


David Williams

 

[Brodie]

sweeet!

 

[pythonss]

email

lmao hi everyone..


just to add a bit of suport to davids post..

yeah jake is real alright. have seen him many times. shane is the keeper there and has been for a few years now.

As most croc carers will say that learning the behaviour patterns of the animal is part of the job. while jake seems to be quiet calm in that pic that is not the way he always is.
Also the lack of water in the pond because of cleaning makes it alot harder for a animal that size to be adgile. That type of pic would not be so bright if the pond was fill of water..lol

hi shane

cheers paul.

 

[Hawkeye]

Hi David welcome to the site.

Hope we can catch up again in PNG!

Cheers Hawkeye (aka Glen)

 

[Slateman]

Welcome in our community David.
You must wander how many crocks experts we have here

 

[Brodie]

2 now!

 

[Pinkie]

Lots of crock experts no croc experts lol

 

[mystic_herps]

...

 

[olivaceus71]

Hey David
good to see you post without having to duck for cover from Ray, was waiting for someone to email Shane, rather than getting flamed myself saying it was legit, glad someone with a higher profile could set things straight.
cheers
meg....

Shane O'Brien is currently keeper of reptiles at Rainforestation Wildlife Park on the Kennedy Highway at Kuranda.

The crocodile "Jack" was purchased from Warren Entsch's crocodile farm near Fogg Dam in early 1996. I was the keeper who installed Jack at Rainforestation on his arrival.

Cheers!


David Williams

 

[Nicole]

Wow, never would have picked that for real in a million years!
I'm impressed.

 

[hey_im_sam]

heh, bunch of cynics here, i love it. it wouldnt have crossed my mind til i started reading the replies! good times.

 

[Parko]

Like I said, brushing teeth and gargling makes all the difference.

 

[africancichlidau]

Well that blew me out the water eh ? How on earth do you keep that Crocs tongue so clean??

 

[toxinologist]

G'day all,

Thanks for the warm welcome ...

A little more about Jack's background ... when he originally came to Rainforestation he was lauded as an 18 foot croc and arrived with a pair of 2.5 metre female crocodiles who were supposedly his "wives".Unfortunately the shipping was handled completely by the workers at the Croc Farm in the NT, and the first we saw of the trio of crocs was at Cairns Airport when they were unloaded from the Qantas aircraft.

Jack arrived in excellent condition, sedated and tied securely to a timber pallet, however the same couldn't be said for the two females - both had been tied so tightly that the ropes cut through the skin on their snouts, and both had also been sedated with THE SAME AMOUNT OF DRUG as the much, much larger male!! By the time we arrived back at the Park from the airport it was apparent that one female salty had actually died of an overdose of sedative during the flight, as too had a freshwater crocodile that came in the same shipment. :shock:

The remaining female took several DAYS to emerge from sedation, but never seemed to really come good at all ... she was listless, extremely stressed and rapidly lost weight. For several weeks she was kept separate from her supposed boyfriend, but eventually the owners of Rainforestation asked that the two crocodiles be put together ... "because they are a breeding pair".

Sadly it didn't take long for it to become apparent that Jack's interest in the female was far from romantic, and before anyone could intervene he attacked her, grabbing her by the hips and shaking her like a rubber toy ... while the pond was pumped out (this took about 15 minutes with a huge bilge pump) I jumped in and grabbed the female by the tail, dragging her clear of the pond while one of the other keepers prodded Jack from the opposite side to keep him distracted. Unfortunately the damage was already done ... her hips were smashed and she died of internal injuries later that day. :cry:

Naturally this sorry episode raised a lot of questions about the truthfulness of what we had been told by the Croc Farm about this "breeding group of crocs" ... it turned out that Jack was actually a rogue croc who had killed countless other crocodiles on the farm ... and they saw Rainforestation as an "out" to finally get rid of a troublesome animal.

As far as I know, Jack has lived a solitary life at Rainforestation ever since ...

Cheers


David

PS: I guess I needn't mention that he was significantly shorter than the claimed "18 feet" ... :roll:[/i]