I seen one sunning on the beach about this time last year...
Crocodile makes record 350-mile trip around Florida
Thursday, August 08, 2013
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. -- An 11-foot American crocodile captured last month in Lake Tarpon was born near the Turkey Point nuclear plant in South Florida in 1999 and has apparently traveled quite a bit over the past few years.
In fact, it set a record for the farthest distance ever documented for a crocodile to travel in Florida - from its birth-place in the Miami to Naples and then on to Tarpon Springs in Pinellas County, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Gary Morse.
Officials believe the croc had been in the lake for at least a year before it was spotted by a resident in July. She called authorities who captured the 700-pound creature.
"He didn't look anything like a gator," said Wanda Vekasi, who spotted the croc in the lake. She told the Tampa Bay Times (Croc found in Lake Tarpon traveled 350 miles from South Florida home | Tampa Bay Times) he "had big spikes sticking out of his tail. It just looked evil."
Wildlife experts know a little bit about him thanks to markings biologists carve into the scutes - or armored tiles - on the tails of crocodiles born around Turkey Point. The carvings leave a distinctive pattern officials can use to identify the crocodiles.
Experts predict some 2,000 crocodiles live in Florida, where they are classified as an endangered species. Most of the crocodiles live in the Crocodile Lake National Refuge in Key Largo or around Turkey Point, according to wildlife officials.
But this crocodile apparently has wanderlust.
...
Crocodile makes record-setting 350-mile trip around Florida | 7online.com
Crocodile makes record 350-mile trip around Florida
Thursday, August 08, 2013
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. -- An 11-foot American crocodile captured last month in Lake Tarpon was born near the Turkey Point nuclear plant in South Florida in 1999 and has apparently traveled quite a bit over the past few years.
In fact, it set a record for the farthest distance ever documented for a crocodile to travel in Florida - from its birth-place in the Miami to Naples and then on to Tarpon Springs in Pinellas County, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Gary Morse.
Officials believe the croc had been in the lake for at least a year before it was spotted by a resident in July. She called authorities who captured the 700-pound creature.
"He didn't look anything like a gator," said Wanda Vekasi, who spotted the croc in the lake. She told the Tampa Bay Times (Croc found in Lake Tarpon traveled 350 miles from South Florida home | Tampa Bay Times) he "had big spikes sticking out of his tail. It just looked evil."
Wildlife experts know a little bit about him thanks to markings biologists carve into the scutes - or armored tiles - on the tails of crocodiles born around Turkey Point. The carvings leave a distinctive pattern officials can use to identify the crocodiles.
Experts predict some 2,000 crocodiles live in Florida, where they are classified as an endangered species. Most of the crocodiles live in the Crocodile Lake National Refuge in Key Largo or around Turkey Point, according to wildlife officials.
But this crocodile apparently has wanderlust.
...
Crocodile makes record-setting 350-mile trip around Florida | 7online.com
