Thursday, July 30, 2009

Swimming with Crocodiles






dlal said...

Interesting topic Adam. I guess in the end it all comes down to more education and public awareness. The patroled beaches (or unpatroled beaches) should have more public signs warning of the dangers and risks if people decide to go swimming. But in spite of the recents events which have occured around Darwin, there will be a fair few people who will take the risk and do stupid things. But as you say.. we live everyday with risks. My house is crawling with White Tailed spiders, but I've learnt to live with them. Who knows maybe in due time, humans will evolve to learn to adapt to their natural environment a little bit better.

Warren said...

I think the fear of predators has to do with the loss of control. There's an idea, justified or not, that if you crash your car or drown or get bitten while handling a venomous snake, you took unnecessary risks and were probably acting like an idiot. But if you're playing it safe and a predator picks you off, well, it's not your fault. And that is terrifying.

Adam Britton said...

Perhaps it has more to do with our awareness of that loss of control. We may be responsible for our own driving errors, but we have no control over the actions of others who are far more likely to kill us by running a red light for example. Despite the real risk of this happening we rarely if ever consider the possibility. Yet the fear of being eaten alive by an invisible predator below the waves is too much for some people's imaginations no matter how remote the risk.

It's interesting to contemplate whether we'll evolve to learn to adapt. In fact the opposite seems to have happened: we've lost that link with the environment we live in, and lost that knowledge of dealing with natural situations.

Wakefield Tolbert said...

Well, people have to make their own minds about that threshold of danger. We all have to drive, but not all HAVE to go in the woods, though I'll admit that much pleasure is lost due to inordinate fear of venomous snakes, but at that you DO need to have a backup plan. This is not to say we can be reckless for safety and pull a Timothy Treadwell trick in the north of Alaska and pretend that since bears are seldom man killers, that temptation can't get the better of them. The analogies go on and on.

Not sure what one can do about crocs, but to be wary of the likely hideouts and lineups where these guys hang out. Or choose a hotel pool instead?

The nastiest thing we have in South Carolina is the American Alligator. While attacks are rare, quite a few dogs seem to go missing in these elite enclaves where people and gator mix in the swanky areas where some developer thinks cutting houses into what used to be wetlands is just grand. Nice homes, dangerous surroundings. I've seen kids playing in the Intercoastal waterway where gators come to snack in the brackish water and where I've personally caught all manner of creatures such as small hammerhead sharks.

Bring a dog to the water to sample the crab traps, and while the kids are probably safe, you'll see those eye bob out of the water sure enough.

I think this all has to do with thinking things all the way through rather than working our leisure time on impulse. It's not the gators fault for example that he dosen't mind chlorine water and that kiddie pool (yeah, sounds funny but it's not) looks just dandy for a water hole to bask in the southern heat, etc., or someone's beloved poodle is a great afternoon snack (that's more often the attack).

This reminds me of the NatGeo special I saw where a guide (not sure if province authorized or how that works in Australis) assured one group of young people about a certain pond being safe due to lack of eyeshine for just a brief sweep of a rather large body of water.

The narrator indicated that this was very unreliable, as saltie crocs can stay underwater for half an hour sometimes.

Not sure what happned to the guide, but a young woman lost her life to a 15-footer they found a few hours later guarding her body in its teeth.

The tragedy here is not like the one of "lifeboat" scenarios, and should have been totally avoidable.

One assumes that north of certain latitudes and rivers, have water--have crocs, or assume such!

Dr. Britton, you mentioned that vital link to nature. My understanding from some claims is that the aborigines know (or knew at one time) how to look for the subtle signs that raise the gooseflesh and hackles and get more in tune with things.

Do you think this is true of feeling out crocs as well? Or is this more of a tall tale?