‘CROC TRYING TO AVOID WARM WATERS’
The 4.5m-long estuarine crocodile could be moving to a new habitat, says state Perhilitan
A4.5M-LONG crocodile was spotted along Pantai Air Leleh here on Saturday, could have been avoiding the increasingly warm water or moving to a new habitat.
State Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director Ahmad Azahar Mohammed said the 380kg estuarine crocodile was spotted numerous times near an estuary not far from the beach.
Speaking to the New Straits Times on Saturday, Azahar said the crocodile could have moved inland due to various reasons, including the need to look for another swampy area in the vicinity.
“It could be the change in water temperature, or its habitat could be under threat, or there could be a power struggle among younger male crocodiles, which forced this one to be pushed out,” he said, adding that the crocodile was approximately 25 years old.
“Estuarine crocodiles can live in both river and sea, and the reptile will only go up to shore in certain cases.
“This is the first such case in Pahang this year.”
A team of Perhilitan rangers and firemen, he said, took four hours to capture the animal before
sending it to the Paya Indah Wetlands in Selangor.
Azahar reminded villagers to contact the authorities if they found more crocodiles in the area.
On Saturday, villagers near Tanjung Gosong had the shock of their lives when they spotted the crocodile near some bushes at Pantai Air Leleh about 11am.
In July, Perhilitan captured a 3m-long estuarine crocodile in Kampung Ubai, Kuantan, after it was spotted by an irrigation canal.