croc chases swimmer

[Ken Gargett]

one very lucky swimmer in mexico.

two things -

hard to see where the 'saviour' comes from but one fortunate kid that he did.

finally, even if the kid made land, where the hell was he going to get away.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/travel/travel-news/alarming-footage-shows-tourist-stalked-by-crocodile-in-mexican-waters/story-fnihr7xj-1227025344684

[mncz]

Seems like he was just interested to see what the fellow was doing in the water so close to him. How fast can they swim at most? For some reason, I picture them swimming much faster than that.

edit: (from Wikipedia)

"Despite their relative lethargy, saltwater crocodiles are agile predators and display surprising quickness and speed when necessary, usually during strikes at prey. They are capable of explosive bursts of speed when launching an attack from the water. They can also swim at 15 to 18 mph (24 to 29 km/h) in short bursts, around three times as fast as the fastest human swimmers, but when cruising, they usually go at 2 to 3 mph (3.2 to 4.8 km/h). However, stories of crocodiles being faster than a race horse for short distances across land are little more than urban legend. At the water's edge, however, where they can combine propulsion from both feet and tail, their speed can be explosive."

If that crocodile didn't like him, he wouldn't have had a chance. Those jerks seemed to have scared the heck out of the thing by throwing that object in the water.

[Ken Gargett]

Seems like he was just interested to see what the fellow was doing in the water so close to him. How fast can they swim at most? For some reason, I picture them swimming much faster than that.

edit: (from Wikipedia)

"Despite their relative lethargy, saltwater crocodiles are agile predators and display surprising quickness and speed when necessary, usually during strikes at prey. They are capable of explosive bursts of speed when launching an attack from the water. They can also swim at 15 to 18 mph (24 to 29 km/h) in short bursts, around three times as fast as the fastest human swimmers, but when cruising, they usually go at 2 to 3 mph (3.2 to 4.8 km/h). However, stories of crocodiles being faster than a race horse for short distances across land are little more than urban legend. At the water's edge, however, where they can combine propulsion from both feet and tail, their speed can be explosive."

If that crocodile didn't like him, he wouldn't have had a chance. Those jerks seemed to have scared the heck out of the thing by throwing that object in the water.

i think that they can move a great deal faster but they are ambush predators so need to get a lot closer. don't do the long chase thing. it would have been going very stealthily. the text talks about them being well fed so it could have been a half hearted attempt. would not like to risk it. i'd be 99.9% certain that if it got within striking range, he was dinner.

but the big splash would have put it right off. alerted the prey. given the croc up.

[Fuzz AI]

If that crocodile didn't like him, he wouldn't have had a chance. Those jerks seemed to have scared the heck out of the thing by throwing that object in the water.

Exactly. How would they like it if I can bursting in and chucked something at their head when they're about to chomp down on a Big Mac?

[Laynard]

That's some scary stuff. Thanks for sharing ken.

[Ken Gargett]

Those jerks seemed to have scared the heck out of the thing by throwing that object in the water.

we all have different interpretations when we see these clips, and there could be more to it, but why on earth would you call them jerks?

for me, they almost certainly saved his life. added to that, they didn't hurt the croc (other than to perhaps deprive him of a meal, though it looked rather well fed).

am i missing something?

[LGC]

Seems like he was just interested to see what the fellow was doing in the water so close to him. How fast can they swim at most? For some reason, I picture them swimming much faster than that.

edit: (from Wikipedia)

"Despite their relative lethargy, saltwater crocodiles are agile predators and display surprising quickness and speed when necessary, usually during strikes at prey. They are capable of explosive bursts of speed when launching an attack from the water. They can also swim at 15 to 18 mph (24 to 29 km/h) in short bursts, around three times as fast as the fastest human swimmers, but when cruising, they usually go at 2 to 3 mph (3.2 to 4.8 km/h). However, stories of crocodiles being faster than a race horse for short distances across land are little more than urban legend. At the water's edge, however, where they can combine propulsion from both feet and tail, their speed can be explosive."

If that crocodile didn't like him, he wouldn't have had a chance. Those jerks seemed to have scared the heck out of the thing by throwing that object in the water.

So those people should have waited to see whether or not the croc was going to tear him to pieces... before trying to scare it off??? I'm failing to see the logic here.

[guideright]

Amazing - good work to distract the gator!