Crocodylus porosus - Sundarbans

[Sabyasachi Patra]

An amazingly large salt water crocodile from Sundarbans. I wanted different compositions to highlight its body parts for appreciating its size better, so created this one.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, Canon EF 400mm f2.8 L IS USM, EF 2xII Tc, ISO 2500, f16, 1/250, full frame image, from moving launch, OConnor 1030 HDs fluid head, Sachtler CF 100 ENG HD 2 CF tripod, minimal processing in Lightroom 4.

Sabyasachi

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

As if a Dinosaur revisited, image extra-ordinary.

Since 1978 I have been visiting the Sundarbans.Seen numerous estuarine crocodiles of varying sizes, some very large.Even the largest one seen by me earlier,makes no comparison.I have not seen any photograph of such a giant in any of the books on the Sundarbans.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Nice composition. Does remind one of a dinosaur. What was the estimated length? What are the stains on the teeth, do they indicate a recent kill?

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Abhishek,
This is a massive crocodile. I think we are happy that we didn't see its side profile in open. At the least may be one of us would have dropped a camera into water.

I will talk about the length later. Before that, I will treat you with another image showing part of the hind leg. The hind leg image was clicked in the morning and the frontal image showing the teeth was clicked during afternoon. You can think how long the thigh is. It looks like having armour plates.

The lower jaw is uniformly dark colour. The teeth have been stained due to its age. First we thought that it was due to blood. The teeth has become irregular in size and direction. At the back there are three black teeth.

Sabyasachi
PS: I will later shift this to the natural history section with images of various parts of its body.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Massive croc it is. I felt movies like Lake Placid are just for the sake of fun, but after these images it seems its not too hard to image such a predator on the move. I was also wondering about the stains in the teeth, nice that you cleared it Sabyasachi. In the second image there seems to be something near the leg protruding from the mud, looks like a nail or a tooth. Thanks for sharing.

[Joshi Bhavya]

yes.. Really Looks Like Dino Croc.. Scary Bloody teeth.

This Croc Look like huge.. more than 10Ft. as per Hind legs view. I have seen 10Ft Massive Croc Approx. In Gir forest It was Totally black. Jaws also.. really giant.:blink:

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Joshi Bhai,
What you have seen in Gir is a marsh Crocodile(Crocodylus palustris).It stands nowhere near a normal adult saltwater Crocodile(Crocodylus porosus).
This particular saltwater Crocodile may be the one of largest ever seen ,it is simply a Monster and an object of study.

Romulus Whitaker,while in search of world's largest crocodile, has written that he has seen the broad back of an 18 footer(5.5. m) monster crocodile in swimming position in contiguous Bangladesh Sundarbans.

He would have been happy to see this one.Thanks for sharing.
Kind regards,SaktiWild

[Bibhav Behera]

Lovely. There is one in Bhitarkanika which is estimated at around 22ft. I think they have nicknamed it Kalia (Kalia is an alias name for Lord Jagannath). And it indeed is a Juggernaut.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

That is a great sighting sir. Did you make a video? One gets to see massive salties and Nile crocs on TV. Ive heard about a 21 footer caught in Philippines.

TFS
Roopak

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Roopak,
It was tough to take video as the launch was moving and the frame was changing fast. However, I have filmed and have some footage. I am in the process of getting a machine for editing. So you guys have to wait for footage. But believe me, I have some footage from Sundarbans which really excites me.

This crocodile was massive. I don't want to make extraordinary claims as we didn't see it completely open in the mud to take a proper estimate. However, this was one of the largest. Look at its teeth structure and that shows its age. I haven't seen the 22 feet crocodile in Bhitarkanika. Definitely need to make a journey there to see it and compare our huge fellow.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Shri Sabyasachi,
You may kindly think of keeping a record of the unique yellow colour of the baby estuarine crocodile (sleek 3-3.5 ft long) which was seen in the afternoon(low tide) for about half a minute and could not be photographed. It was resting so close to the water and slipped into it immediately.It was so young that even the black dots were not clearly visible (to me).This beautiful yellow colour is a distinct feature for baby Salt Water Crocodile,I think.
Kind regards,
SaktiWild