Daily Archives: January 3, 2015

A five-metre saltwater crocodile at the Australian Reptile Park in Gosford has been given a lamb carcass to commemorate his 49th birthday.

Elvis the crocodile, once dubbed the crankiest crocodile in Australia, happily accepted the gift by snapping it up and dragging it under water for a death roll.

Crocodiles will generally drown their pray by twisting them over underwater, while the attack will also allow them to dismember the meal for easier digestion.

The birthday boy was only allowed a mouthful of the sheep carcass, as he the full serve would leave him unable to eat for a whole year.

Elvis earned his epithet in 2011 after he broke two of his teeth on a lawnmower that a zoo employee was using in his closure.

The 500-kg croc charged at the employee then dragged the mower into the pool.

He was moved to the Central Coast in New South Wales in 2007 after attacking fishingboats in his home town of Darwin.

He was later sent to a breeding property, but had to be removed after eating some of his stablemates.

Park general manager Tim Faulkner said saltwater crocodiles live up to 70 years.

‘We are constantly being asked how old Elvis is and when his birthday is, but because he is wild caught, it’s hard to determine,’ he said.

‘Because it’s hatching season in the Northern Territory, we decided on January 2, so that’s the day we’ll celebrate his birthday.’

source: dailymail.co.uk

Emergency services are warning people in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia that more extreme weather is on the way.

Australia’s bushfire season is well under way, with fires raging in two states as temperatures are recorded as high as 46C.

The state’s County Fire Authority (CFA) said 76 fire appliances were at the scene but that there have been no reports of lives or homes lost.

They advised residents to leave the town, as the region faces more extreme weather in the coming days.

More than a dozen other fires have broken out across Victoria but authorities said there were none threatening life or property at this stage.

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Friday 2 January was the hottest day of the summer for the state, with Melbourne reaching 37C.

The city’s overnight temperature was expected to stay above 30C until well after midnight, forecaster Scott Williams told The Age newspaper.

In South Australia two fires were burning out of control – one in Kersbrook, north east of Adelaide, which has destroyed two homes, and another in the state’s south east.

Temperatures in South Australia have soared past 40C, with Adelaide reaching 44.1C around 4.20pm on Friday and the town of Ceduna passing 46C.

Australia often suffers from bushfires at this time of year, with the most well-known being the Black Saturday fires of February 2009 in Victoria, where 173 people were killed and around 2,000 homes destroyed and more than 7,000 left homeless.

Towns were gutted and some, such as Marysville, were completely ruined.

source:  sky.com