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The Safest Place on Earth
Being a saltwater crocodile baby
is quite an experience. First you're buried under several
inches of hardened mud and vegetation, and later your
mother digs you out with her front legs and jaws, seizing
you in her teeth and depositing you on her soft, moist
tongue. This hatchling peering out from the jaws of death
doesn't realise that its in the safest place on Earth. Of
all the creatures around it, its mother is the least
likely to eat her. Hungry varanid lizards, a variety of
snakes and birds, and even large fish will prey upon
tasty hatchlings (tastes like chicken, don't you know?).
The biggest threat, however, comes not from these hungry
creatures, but rather from other adult saltwater
crocodiles - the cause of the greatest mortality in
juvenile crocodiles. Life at the top is good for a large
adult, but getting there is another matter - less than 1
in 100 baby crocodiles will survive to see their 8th
birthday (or rather, hatchday).
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