Monday 28 April 2008

Crocodiles at La Bonheur, Franschhoek

Mommy and Daddy took me to see the crocodiles. I called them dinosaurs cos they look like it. Here's Daddy with me walking with the babies. These ones are under 2 years old. They were more scared of us than we were of them. Mommy didn't want Daddy to take me in. I think she was scared that I would want to walk and that the crocodiles might think I was food, but I was very good. These are the big ones, and they're only 3-4 years old. Did you know that crocodiles don't eat at all in winter because they don't have a high enough body temperature to digest food, and that they can go for 2 YEARS between meals?? The man who told us all about them said that when you see them catching a buck, that will be the only meal they eat in several months, if not for the entire year. Imagine - no snacks at all for an entire year!
These funny crocodiles are Stumpy and Lumpy. They were born without tails. Since crocodiles only use their tails for swimming (and not their legs) they would drown if they went into the water too deeply. In nature, when their mother released them into the water they would drown.
While I enjoyed visiting the crocodiles, I enjoyed seeing the other animals at the farm more. There were goats and a big black pig, as well as a tortoise that was nearly as big as me!

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