Eaten by a croc.
Eaten? Gobbled up? Simply devoured by a croc? Well then! Being eaten by a crocodile might not seem too attractive an option, but it is a possibility. Let’s consider the idea.
There are now thousands and thousands more crocs than when I was a boy. As to the eating bit, there are some “no way Jose” rejections but not too many “I accept thank you.”
“Eaten by a croc? Feller there – that croc, no mate, no he ain’t armless!”
Eaten by a croc – that is no joke. Therefore I apologise if I offend, and I do ask that you forgive my grisly sense of humour. Still, I hope that you realise that I am making a point. Just like the croc I am deadly serious – I am sending out a message – a kind of “SOS” – defined for you at the end of this article.
Devoured by a croc is not quite so unlikely.
We must not think that the eating bit might be a lengthy period of degustation. We must not deceive ourselves, as one way or the other the croc will make short work of us. The spectacle would be quick and merciless, nothing like watching an all-night makeover of “Gone With the Croc.”
It is most likely that there would be no warning. At least it would be over quick with no need for you to be trouble by doubt or impending doom kind of speculations. There would be an instant of shock, or at the least, a sudden thrill of surprise. You won’t live long enough to complete the thought and catalogue the incident. The great croc, probably 4.5 metres long and weighing near enough a tonne, will be on you. It will be snapping jaws and cutting deep with what seems to be hatred rather than hunger.
Before you have had time to shout, “WTF?” the big bastard has you.
Eaten by a croc – impalement.
The Saltwater Crocodile is Australia’s most dangerous big beast. Your attacker will most likely have up to 70 big teeth. The largest of these long teeth may be close to 100mm long. You will feel his strength when he impales you on these great long spikes.
You may not see the teeth, but you will smell foetid breath and you will feel the teeth smashing into your body. Soon enough you will know what it is like to be eaten by a croc.
The long cones will stab deep into your flesh. They are not designed to slash or cut. They are more like blunt spears that can penetrate and hold.
The combination of powerful jaws and huge stabbing teeth is too much to contemplate. But they are designed to hold you. Escape is difficult.
When those jaws clamp on you with the power and speed of a peumatic hammere, they will not be easy to open. It takes 3 men and crowbars to ppen the jaws.
Eaten by a croc can mean watching a crocodile gulp down big slabs of the kill. Cutting flesh into easily digestible pieces ain’t required.
Eaten by a croc and biting.
The crocodile does not bite you like a dog would bit. There is no comparison. This is a different class of bite.
The crocodile has an bite, an incredibly powerful set of jaws. It comes at its prey with power and speed. You will feel more of a hammer blow than a bit. That bite leveraged by velocity crushes with 3700 lbs per square inch, and the impact arrives with power enough to kill your living cells.
The human bite scores some 200 lbs per sq inch. Fierce lions only deliver approximately 1000 lbs per square inch. The saltwater crocodile is the elsupremo of all biters.
The bite ensures necrosis, which is the end of cells and tissue.
There is no treatment for dead cells? For you, it either being killed and eaten by a croc or you survive to face the surgeon. The process called debridement involves the cutting away of dead flesh. Some victim face several rounds of debridement. Each time, the surgeon must cut away the dead flesh, hoping for some living cells. The bite wound can look like severe frostbite with impact damage. So ugly.
Eaten by a croc and bacteria.
Bacterial infection comes quickly. However, in your case you are eaten by a croc. You are lucky, maybe, to miss out on the surgery and the treatment for the various bacterial filth invading your body. The mouth of the monster is so filthy with germs that this can kill you in no time, but you are already dead.
What if you survive that deadly attack? Say you did not get eaten by a croc? Your ordeal is just beginning.
Physically and psychologically you will be challenged
Your situation is quite shocking. It may sound terrible. But it is probably worse than you think, you poor, silly ill-informed fool.
Ward Round-Crocodile bites in Malawi: microbiology and surgical management
- March 2009
- Malawi medical journal: the journal of Medical Association of Malawi 21(1):29-31
Source: PubMed
Authors:
Wamisho, B.L.
- Addis Ababa University
Jes Bates
Marc Tompkins
Raneem Islam
A number of patients sustained injuries due to attack by crocodiles. Three patients out of five or 60% required amputation of a limb. Amputation was necessary due to one or both of the “severe soft tissue injury associated with a crocodile bite and the unusual normal oral flora of the crocodile”
Eaten by a croc and the ignorance.
Too many people speak about the growth of the crocodile population an the necessity to control crocodiles before they fully appreciate exactly what is involved in the wounding process. For example, “Progressive tissue destruction and haemolysis are complications of such infected wounds. An antibiotic regime is recommended that covers gram negative rods, anaerobes and may include doxycycline, as well as the need to have a low threshold for early amputation.”
Crocodile bites are merciless…
SOURCE: (PDF) Ward Round-Crocodile bites in Malawi: microbiology and surgical management (researchgate.net)
Eaten by a croc – back to the attack.
In review. Our mystery crocodile came from nowhere, and came so very quickly out of the hidden depths of the water.
How quick can that be?
Crocodilian says : “saltwater crocodiles (around 4 metres total length) moving at 12 metres per second for a quarter of a second, which is long enough to capture prey standing within one body length before it even has time to react. This is where crocodiles excel – launching themselves into motion from a standing start, hoping to cover the short distance between themselves and their prey before the prey can react.”
SOURCE: Crocodilian Biology Database – FAQ – How fast can a crocodile run?
The beast does not provide you with ample time to react. the crocodile comes like a locomotive and he is all over you like a rash before your brain registers the threat.
The great body arrives with a snap of powerful jaws, which clamp on you vulnerable body with a loud and terrifying snap! Bones may splinter, and you may hear various sounds like the Snap, Crackle, and Pop of sheer bastardry.
The beast is not keen to release you from its grasp. Poke it in the eyes. Hope that this works. Don’t take too long because time is critical. And short!
How long depends on the situation. Were you ignorant enough to swim in the same waters that housed this gargantuan? Of course. Yes. Totally accept that you didn’t know – didn’t see the signs.
No. You were on the bank, staring at the tranquil pool until eruption and calamity. Just quietly looking into the water at the same time as the lurking beast lay quietly, watching you with intent. Until that fateful moment when the waters parted and He appeared, a full mouth of long white teeth flashing in the bright sun?
That was not the case. But you were lounging on the river bank, just keeping your own counsel. It does not really matter, because you are close enough to be extremely vulnerable. Eaten by a croc is possible because it can can get you.
Eaten by a croc and the heart will prevail.
You may say, “Have a heart Mr. Crocodile.”
I don’t think this will assist you.
But if is going to take into account “hearts?”
Crocodiles are reptiles. Reptiles have a 3 chambered heart, whereas mammals have a four chambered heart.
But crocodiles, our “prehistoric” monsters, are an exception to their brothers from the reptile world and they have a four chambered heart.
Anatomy.
“The enormous crocodile — owner of nature’s most complex heart.
Unlike us, however, they have two aortas — the blood vessel in humans that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body. They have a right aorta that comes out of the left ventricle and a left aorta from the right ventricle”.
SOURCE: British Heart Foundation.
The foramen of panizza.
This small bi-lunar valve controls the flow of the blood; the crocodile can shunt his blood where and when he likes.
Crocodiles can take the best of the best blood. Can pump it, the oxygenated blood, to the brain. The other stuff, that is the poorly oxygenated blood, can be sent to the tail where the best is not desperately needed.
“The heart of a crocodile is different to other reptiles in that it has four chambers just like birds and mammals. Blood is sent to the lungs for gas exchange from the right, and from the left ventricle it is pumped to the body. Thus the two types of blood do not mix in the heart. However, what is interesting is that blood is mixed as soon as it leaves the heart via a valve (foramen of panizza) placed in between the right and left aorta.” https://fountainmagazine.com/2013/issue-92-march-april-2013/extraordinary-blood-circulation-in-crocodiles-march-april-2013
The record for a human holding their breath under water is around 12 minutes. Elephant seals can get up to around 2 hours, and a Cuvier’s beaked whale once clocked a dive of over 137 minutes. But the longest recorded dive for a crocodile is 387 minutes, and Professor Franklin believes they can manage up to 8 hours in colder waters before resurfacing for air.
https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2000/08/25/167223.htm
So it is that too late in your uneducated life you discover just how long your opponent can stay under the water. It is more than just a tad longer than you stay submerged. It is not a fair contest, pity, but reflect on the result of your lack of attention to facts of life. Or death.
Eaten by a croc – the plan.
Premiere Plan. The croc’s plan is to get you into the water! Unless of course you were the idiot that decided to take the dip into the green water that is about to turn blood red.
He will roll you. He will thrash, and throw you like a little rag doll. All the while his massive teeth both holding you and ripping you in the same drama-filled moment. Of course he will take you down for a solid beating, staying under longer than you. Godzilla triumphs!
You are damn near drowned and definitely dragged, drawn and quartered in a crunching and chewing carnival of death.
Will you survive? Who knows? There are many variables. Even if you do survive the onslaught, prolonged or truncated, and even if you survive the surgery, the treatment, the bacterial invasion, and more, will you survive the psychological trauma? Maybe a bit of an after taste, even when not eaten by a croc?
At best, a piece of you would have been eaten by a croc. Yes, devoured by that horribly tenacious beast.
I say that more control is needed. Send out an SOS (Save our Swimmers).
Ed – Chew – Cation……………… free of charge Leighton Clark
P.S. My novel “The Sixth Season, Gudjewg” provides a wealth of detail about crocodiles and men. A good read and an education.
There are a few stories – Read all about it! Man eaten by a croc!
Also check out this site for stories of attacks.
Example: Alex Bururru attacked by saltwater crocodile
Question: Are you safe in a boat.
regards Leighton.
And keep out of that bloody big mouth.