I can’t stop thinking about crocodiles for some reason so here’s some cool pictures I found of probably the second largest one in captivity, his name is Utan:
isn’t he beautiful
listen to the SOUND when he bites
and that’s not even a real power bite, that’s mostly just heavy bone falling on heavy bone from his jaws and the air rushing out from between them
2000 pounds of Good Boy
you get me
I honestly expected like 5 notes, what HAPPENED here
More tags on this ridiculous post:
Wait, thats the 2nd biggest crocodile? Then what does the biggest one look like?
That would be Cassius, a very old Saltwater crocodile who is estimated to be around 114 years old and lives at Marineland Melanesia in Green Island, Australia. His official measurement is 5.48 meters, which makes him the largest in captivity currently. Because Utan is only slightly smaller and much younger, (only in his 50s), he will likely break Cassius’ record eventually. But for now, Cassius holds the title:
He is NOT, however, either the largest crocodile ever captured in Australia OR the largest ever in captivity.
A slightly larger crocodile has been reported (though not yet comfirmed) to have been captured at 5.58 meters.
And while the famous Brutus of the Adelaide River was estimated to be just slightly larger than Cassius at 5.5m, he was driven out of his territory by a younger and even larger crocodile, who as a result has been given the name, The Dominator. He is estimated to be just over 6m.
This is Brutus, with an appropriate caption:
It is believed that he lost that arm in a fight with a Bull Shark.
The Bull Shark lost.
THIS is the crocodile who kicked him out. The Dominator:
And that’s STILL not the biggest.
The largest living crocodile ever reliably measured was Lolong, who for the 1.5 years between his capture and his death was the largest crocodile ever held in captivity, at a whopping 6.17 meters (20 feet 3 inches) and 1075 kg (2,370 lbs). He had been feeding on both humans and very large livestock in the Bunawan creek in Agusan del Sur in the Philippines. It took 100 people all night to drag him to shore during his capture.
And here’s why:
Also, to prevent credit from getting buried on a separate reblog, I have been informed that the above image of the crocodile with the cartoon eyes and halo was made by @rashkah! (And it is wonderful and I would like to thank him for its existence, because it perfectly captures my feelings about terrifying giant primordial reptiles.)
As far as Brutus is concerned I was led to believe that he lost that arm when relatively young.
Since then Brutus developed a habit of hunting and eating Bull Sharks.
Here’s him with a prey.
And if you thought that you’ll be safe if you just stay out of Australia then think again!
Meet Gustave the Nile Croc.
This crocodile became almost legendary for both it’s size and the habit of hunting both livestock AND humans.
So how big is Gustave?
No one is sure. Since he was NEVER captured.
His estimated size is of at least 5,5m but some give him over 6m.
The terrifying parts are:
1) He is still growing having only about 60 years.
2) Adult crocodiles often perform a gesture of submission to him – something usually done by young crocodiles toward adults – Gustave is just THAT BIG.
3) His sheer size makes it difficult for him to catch agile prey Nile crocs tend to feed on – hence why he developed a habit of hunting either larger prey like Hippopotamus or creatures which are not good at spotting danger in the first place like livestock and humans.
And this is NOT ALL.
Gustave actually has a noticeable scars on his body – he was shot at east 3 times and stabbed with a spear or something similar at one occasion.
He lived to tell the tale – my question is:
What happened to that one dude who attacked Gustave with a spear?
*Crocodile Dundee voice* Mate, that’s not Gustave:
THIS is Gustave:
And he is the PERFECT CROCODILE. He is the perfect example of what I mean when I talk about (as I do) how the morphology of extremely large crocodiles adapts to the changing physics of their bite.
This is a typical adult Nile Crocodile:
And THIS is a god among his kind:
This is it, folks. The Final Form. THIS is what peak performance looks like.
Crocodiles and physics have an interesting relationship. Crocodiles have, by a CONSIDERABLE MARGIN, the strongest bite of any animal on Earth. EVER. Scaled up estimates (based on Nile and Saltwater crocodiles) give the extinct Deinosuchus an estimated bite force MORE THAN DOUBLE the recently updated Tyrannosaurus bite estimates. Living crocodiles have bite forces measured in the range of 5000 pounds per square inch, for an individual around 15-16 feet. It is estimated that modern crocodiles in the range of 18-20 feet would have bit forces around 7-8000 psi or more.
That’s a problem.
Because a crocodile’s skull is only designed to handle so much pressure. Go beyond that limit and the force of impact when those jaws snap shut could literally shatter their own skulls.
But evolution has spent hundreds of millions of years perfecting crocodiles, so PHYSICS ISN’T GOING TO STOP THEM. What ends up happening in the skulls of these extremely large crocodiles is they will increase dramatically in mass to compensate for the increased forces. A crocodile’s skull is almost exclusively solid bone, with only minimal space for nasal passages, a surprisingly advanced brain, and some slightly porous looking framework that helps the bone distribute the force over a larger area. The effect is by far the most pronounced in Nile crocodiles, which most regularly feed on larger prey and need to make use of all that power.
Compare, 26 inch skull:
vs 29 inch skull:
Both of those are Nile crocodile skulls (or rather, replicas thereof).
And just for fun, here are the skulls of completely different (and very extinct species), Deinosuchus:
and Purussaurus:
The bigger the crocodile (within a given species), the more massive the skull needs to be to compensate for that UNBELIEVABLE bit pressure. This is one way to see from a distance whether you are looking at a normal sized crocodile:
and a truly extraordinary individual:
One of the things about Gustave that’s so impressive is how healthy his teeth look. A lot of large crocodiles, in their old age, have very worn down and often missing teeth. They do replace them many times over a lifetime, but when they get very old this slows down. Gustave, at least in every picture taken of him, had teeth that were in very good condition.
Even crocodiles much smaller than Gustave’s reported size (probably similar in size to Dominator or Lolong) tend to have smaller or more worn teeth:
than the pinnacle of his kind:
Lolong! It means Gramps or Grandpa, because he’s a relic of an ancient world where crocs more massive than he was walked the earth. His body is on display somewhere right now though I forgot where.
Every time I see this post there’s more crocodiles. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Can we please stop referring to Native Americans ESPECIALLY the Mexica(erroneously known as Aztecs) as “ancient”. I’m so tired of hearing “the ancient Hopi” or “the ancient Aztecs” no one says “the ancient Christopher Columbus” “Ancient Spain colonized much of the world” instead we refer to them as recent history. Indigenous genocide is also recent history. Stop trying to wash us out as passed and non relevant.
I fucking hate this.
Seriously, people, if you’re talking about something more recent than 600CE, it’s not “ancient”. And when you do it in the context above, you’re implying that entire cultures are dead that still live on. Fucking quit it.
I’ve been avoiding the news, just staying as far away from the TV as possible with this because everytime I hear news on this I keep thinking “This could’ve been us.”
Every year there’s more than one fire during the summer in Greece. The authorities try their best to spread awareness on forest fires and fire safety.
“The heat and drought pattern is similar to that playing out much further north in Latvia and Sweden. Parts of Italy are also on fire. Earlier this year, enormous fires scorched Siberia.” -Vox
“As for the rest of the world, heat this summer has already proved deadly in countries including Japan, Pakistan, and Canada.” -Vox
A group of conservative House lawmakers on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the top Department of Justice (DOJ) official overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The introduction of the resolution is the latest sign of escalating efforts among conservatives to oust the DOJ’s No. 2 official.
Conservative members led by Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Jim Jordan
(R-Ohio), along with nine co-sponsors, introduced the five articles
shortly after a meeting with DOJ officials concerning document
production.
———————
Oh, and you may recognize the name of Congressman Jim Jordan (Republican from Ohio) from such stories as:
Another former OSU wrestler says Jim Jordan knew about alleged abuse
‘A cesspool of deviancy’: New claims of voyeurism test (Jim) Jordan denials
Rep. Jim Jordan Is Named in New OSU Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
“Sometimes when I tell strangers I’m Cherokee they ask,”How much are you?” They’re not asking if I know myself as a Cherokee and if I am considered by other Cherokees as Cherokee. That would be a valid, though invasive, question. Instead, they’re asking, “What percentage of ‘Indian blood’ do you have?” This question implies that the degree to which one is Cherokee is defined by racial purity. By this logic, the higher percentage of “ Indian blood” you have, the more cherokee you would be. It’s a racist question because it implies that Cherokees are defined by race, not by culture. People tend to forget that “race” is a concept created by cultures. The concept of race continues to have power only because we continue to believe in it. Funny thing is, in all my life I’ve never been asked by another Cherokee, “How much are you?” Instead, the questions are: “Where do you come from?” “Who are your people ?” “Who’s your mother?” They are questions of beginnings and continuities, kin and relationships.”
— Christopher B. Teuton, from “Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars’ Club”
As someone who doesn’t necessarily fit the bill when it comes to what a native woman should look like, I get white people trying to one up me when talking about my own culture. “My grandmother was a Cherokee princess.” Or, “Well, I’m Cherokee and so and so doesn’t bother me.” Etc, etc.
And white people, for GENERATIONS upon GENERATIONS have wanted a say in what we do as tribes and how they should be ran when we ran our tribes just fine before colonization.
Just because we’re a half, a quarter, a tenth, or even a hundredth, that doesn’t devalue us as a Cherokee within the Cherokee community. I was raised traditionally, so if someone was able to speak they were immediately considered Cherokee no matter the blood quantum.
Never assume that whoever you’re asking is mainly white just from their appearance or blood quantum.
Elin Ersson is a 21 year old Swedish social work student who boarded a
plane at Gothenburg airport yesterday and refused to sit down until an
Afghan asylum-seeker who was to be deported that day was offloaded and
allowed to remain in Sweden.
Ersson livestreamed her protest, which was planned when she and other
asylum activists learned that the man was due to be deported. Ersson
tangled with stewards who insisted that she stop streaming and sit down,
and passengers who wanted the flight to take off – as well as
passengers who supported her protest.
Eventually, the Afghan man was spared deportation and removed from the
plane, to applause from the other passengers. The crew declined to use
force to remove Ersson.
The Swedish government is performatively demonstrating its toughness by
deporting asylum-seekers in the runup to an election. A Swedish police
spokesman said that they would deport the man at a later date.
My favorite part is that these are going to be someone’s neighborhood landmarks. “Turn left at the saxaphone player,” “yeah I work in the shop right next to the Princess Leia fire hydrant,” “if you pass the shady guy selling watches, you’ve gone too far.” The urban and suburban worlds are so funny of random infrastructure points that you’re just supposed to ignore, like those big metal wiring cabinets on the side of the road and all those backflow preventers all over the place. With just a little paint, now they have friendly, comprehensible meaning.
This question & answer from the Helsinki conference does not appear in any official transcripts – Russian or American. It is the only omission or “mistake” in the transcript.
The exchange now exists only in the recorded video.
Somebody doesn’t want you to know this happened.
Yep, it’s real. Here’s a couple sources. I wish I could say ‘I can’t believe it would be so blatant.’
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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