Crocodile

[Bobbybass]

Hmmm....I see there is a news story about someone spotting a 'croc' in the Thames..

 

Now...last year...we were pootling along near Reading, and I said to my wife..'That's a bloomin (polite version ) aligator !!

I was sure it was an animal...and a handbag style one at that..and I hadn't been drinking..

Moving along the bank on some mud...and then submerged with a splash...

 

What do you all think ?..(about the 'croc'..NOT my drinking !!)

 

I've seen some terrapins as big as plates...and 30 years ago...nearly ran over a huge wild cat near Chichester. Everyone thought I had been drinking then..but as luck would have it ( not luck for the cat) it got run over a few weeks later and was something like a 'South American Cerval'.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Bobbybass

[churchward]

Hmmm....I see there is a news story about someone spotting a 'croc' in the Thames..

 

Now...last year...we were pootling along near Reading, and I said to my wife..'That's a bloomin (polite version ) aligator !!

I was sure it was an animal...and a handbag style one at that..and I hadn't been drinking..

Moving along the bank on some mud...and then submerged with a splash...

 

What do you all think ?..(about the 'croc'..NOT my drinking !!)

 

I've seen some terrapins as big as plates...and 30 years ago...nearly ran over a huge wild cat near Chichester. Everyone thought I had been drinking then..but as luck would have it ( not luck for the cat) it got run over a few weeks later and was something like a 'South American Cerval'.

 

I am no expert but I can't see how an Aligator or Crocodile could be in the Thames or anywhere in the wild in UK. They are cold blooded and all species to be found in tropical regions so I would have thought our winters would kill any escapee.

[magnetman]

I saw a Crocodile a few years ago in the River near Pangbourne.

 

I suppose they are dumped by people who think it is nice to have a little baby lizard sort of thing but then it gets big quickly. I doubt they survive long though - I would think their bodies will be eaten by pike quite quickly.

[NB Alnwick]

I saw a Crocodile a few years ago in the River near Pangbourne.

 

I suppose they are dumped by people who think it is nice to have a little baby lizard sort of thing but then it gets big quickly. I doubt they survive long though - I would think their bodies will be eaten by pike quite quickly.

 

Many years ago when driving home on a country lane through woods just north of Amersham, a Kangaroo (or something very similar) appeared from the hedge and hopped across the road in front of me.

 

I reported the matter to the Police and was told that they were aware that a number of these animals had escaped from Whipsnade Zoo and my sighting was the third that week.

[Catrin]

Many years ago when driving home on a country lane through woods just north of Amersham, a Kangaroo (or something very similar) appeared from the hedge and hopped across the road in front of me.

 

I reported the matter to the Police and was told that they were aware that a number of these animals had escaped from Whipsnade Zoo and my sighting was the third that week.

They're wallabies, I thought they'd been killed off by a harsh winter a few years back, but it seems not. They are around the Herts/Beds/Bucks borders but they seem to have reached Cambridgeshire by late 2010.

[nb Innisfree]

Wallaby link

[mollyrose]

I once saw a beaver!

[cheshire~rose]

Last week Dave almost ran over a monkey. How he missed it I do not know! We were on the bikes. He swerved at the last minute and managed to avoid it but I was following and was already trying to work out where I had to steer to avoid what I was certain was going to be a dead monkey in the road.

 

You get used to the occasonal rabbit or squirrel (which I am told are very slippery if you hit them on a bike) but a monkey was a shock. Although we were in India so perhaps not quite as unusual as a croc in The Thames.

 

The cockateel community is still growing in London after they escaped from the zoo

[Boat&Bikes]

I once saw a beaver!

 

 

Only once?

 

Ian.

[magnetman]

[bizzard]

Well that's nothing I once had a Sealion keeping pace with me whilst sailing down the river Bure in my sailing dinghy near Gt Yarmouth in the summer of 1976. The beastie shocked me at first, I thought it was a reflection of myself in the water as I was as black as the Hobs of hell with sunburn. It was a bigun, quite beautiful rolling and gamboling along alongside me looking at me all accusing and suspicious like. It kept pace with me for about half a mile while I threw it bits of Luncheon meat. So there.

[tree monkey]

Last week Dave almost ran over a monkey. How he missed it I do not know! We were on the bikes. He swerved at the last minute and managed to avoid it but I was following and was already trying to work out where I had to steer to avoid what I was certain was going to be a dead monkey in the road.

 

was i drunk?

 

You get used to the occasonal rabbit or squirrel (which I am told are very slippery if you hit them on a bike) but a monkey was a shock. Although we were in India so perhaps not quite as unusual as a croc in The Thames.

 

The cockateel community is still growing in London after they escaped from the zoo

 

Ahhh not me then

[Serenity Malc]

Well that's nothing I once had a Sealion keeping pace with me whilst sailing down the river Bure in my sailing dinghy near Gt Yarmouth in the summer of 1976. The beastie shocked me at first, I thought it was a reflection of myself in the water as I was as black as the Hobs of hell with sunburn. It was a bigun, quite beautiful rolling and gamboling along alongside me looking at me all accusing and suspicious like. It kept pace with me for about half a mile while I threw it bits of Luncheon meat. So there.

 

Yello,

 

That would probably have been a seal .... I once saw one sunning itself just south of Breydon Water.

 

 

 

 

 

Malc.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Serenity Malc

[MtB]

Well that's nothing I once had a Sealion keeping pace with me whilst sailing down the river Bure in my sailing dinghy near Gt Yarmouth in the summer of 1976. The beastie shocked me at first, I thought it was a reflection of myself in the water as I was as black as the Hobs of hell with sunburn. It was a bigun, quite beautiful rolling and gamboling along alongside me looking at me all accusing and suspicious like. It kept pace with me for about half a mile while I threw it bits of Luncheon meat. So there.

 

That's NOTHING!

 

Today I saw a horse with eight legs, and two heads. Two tails as well....

 

MtB

[carlt]

 

Today I saw a horse with eight legs, and two heads. Two tails as well....

 

Burger for lunch, then?

[PaulJ]

It is quite hard to get your hands on alligator/ crocodiles as you need a dangerous animals licence to buy one. And they are not cheap to buy either.Suppose if you could get one without getting a licence and couldnt handle it the river might be the answer. I cant see one surviving for long in a river though as its digestive system needs (outside)heat to work,so expect one could survive a decent summer. Mind you I thought that about terrapins and they seem to survive quite happily..

[Jerra]

Mind you I thought that about terrapins and they seem to survive quite happily..

 

The Red Eared Terrapin has a natural range which goes as far north as the bottom end of the great lakes so they are pretty tough little beasties. However eggs incubated at below incubated below 22 -27 C are all male and females require higher temperature during incubation so not much chance of them breeding with the summers we have been having.

[Doorman]

I once saw a beaver!

 

I know a bloke who's eaten a few, said they taste like cats. Well little ones anyway!

Edited February 21, 2013 by Doorman

[PaulJ]

I would put my money on the croc turning out to be a monitor lizard-they can get big,swim,are predatory,very cheap or sometimes even free and no licence needed.

[Bobbybass]

The Red Eared Terrapin has a natural range which goes as far north as the bottom end of the great lakes so they are pretty tough little beasties. However eggs incubated at below incubated below 22 -27 C are all male and females require higher temperature during incubation so not much chance of them breeding with the summers we have been having.

 

Well... the terrapins we saw were about dinner plate sized....somewhere on our way to Marple.

A pair...swimming along the canal...

 

Interesting the 'things' people have sighted above...

 

There are large communities of wallabies around Arundel...

 

In Hove...where I used to live....we had large numbers of scorpions (European) that would find their way into the house... there are also plenty on the dockside where I am now..Newhaven in Sussex. A friend of mine was badly stung while demoslishing a house near Lewes.

 

There are also large numbers of spiders....false widows...that I have been bitten by TWICE...and hospitalised once..

 

In Hove..I had an interesting yellow/red striped snake in the garden...and since I have moved I have been told that others have turned up.

 

So...crocodiles in the Thames..?

 

I suppose most animals can adapt..like the thousands of cockatiels in London...

 

I would put my money on the croc turning out to be a monitor lizard-they can get big,swim,are predatory,very cheap or sometimes even free and no licence needed.

I recall my school days.

There were several monitors who were lizards in those days.

[churchward]

 

So...crocodiles in the Thames..?

 

I suppose most animals can adapt..like the thousands of cockatiels in London...

 

Sure animals will adapt to an alien environment but will only be successful if that environment is within the physical tolerant limits of the animals phsyiology. For example if you were plunged into freezing water with a female without ability to swim to the shore ryou will die before you are able to adapt and get evolution to develop your off spring some gills.

[nb Innisfree]

Wild tarantulas in Dorset.

[saltysplash]

That's NOTHING!

 

Today I saw a horse with eight legs, and two heads. Two tails as well....

 

MtB

 

Thats nothing,

 

Ive seen a Horse Fly, Ive even seen a House Fly!

 

But I'd be done see'n about everything

when I see a crocodile in't Thames

[luctor et emergo]

I know a bloke who's eaten a few, said they taste like cats. Well little ones anyway!

 

He been eating the wrong beavers, then..

 

Edited February 22, 2013 by luctor et emergo

[BGA]

Just checking my diary "its not April the 1st already is it?"