Crocodiles Can Climb Trees - Researchers Reveal

Most people entering crocodile territory
keep a wary eye out on water and land,
but research suggests they need to look
up.
Though the reptiles lack obvious physical
features to suggest this is possible,
crocodiles in fact climb trees all the way
to the crowns, according to University of
Tennessee researcher Vladimir Dinets.
Researchers in the climbing study
observed crocodiles in Australia, Africa
and North America. The study
documented crocodiles climbing as high
as six feet off the ground. But Dinets said
he received anecdotal reports from
people who spend time around crocodiles
of the reptiles climbing almost 30 feet.
Dinets said crocodiles lack the toe and
foot structure that would be expected of
a climber. However, smaller and juvenile
crocodiles in particular were observed
climbing vertically while larger ones
tended to climb angled trunks and
branches, all of which is a measure of the
reptiles’ spectacular agility, he said.
“They just go slowly,” he said. “Eventually
they get there.”
The finding was reported in January in
Herpetology Notes in collaboration with
Adam Britton from Charles Darwin
University in Australia and Matthew
Shirley from the University of Florida.
The researchers believe the crocodiles
climb to keep a lookout on their territory
and to warm themselves in the sun.
“The most frequent observations of tree-
basking were in areas where there were
few places to bask on the ground,
implying that the individuals needed
alternatives for regulating their body
temperature,” the authors wrote.
“Likewise, their wary nature suggests that
climbing leads to improved site
surveillance of potential threats and
prey.”
People who spend time around crocodiles
have known about the climbing ability for
decades, Dinets said, but this study is the
first to thoroughly examine the climbing
and basking behavior.
Dinets also was co-author of a widely
reported study in 2013 that demonstrated
crocodiles used sticks and twigs to hunt,
balancing nest-building material on their
snouts just above the water line to lure
birds. The crocodiles lay in wait for hours
and lunged when a bird ventured near.
That finding was the first reported use of
tools by any reptile and the first known
case of predators timing the use of lures
to a seasonal behavior in their prey,
according to a University of Tennessee
press release at the time.
The latest climbing study suggests
paleontologists studying extinct species
should be cautious about drawing
conclusions from fossils, adds Dinets.
“If crocodiles were extinct and you only
knew them from fossils, you wouldn’t be
able to guess they climb trees because
they don’t have any physical adaptations,”
Dinets said.
“Assumptions based on fossils, he said,
can be “far less correct than people
think.”