Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 15, 2016

Toddler Snatched by Alligator: How Dangerous Are Florida's Reptiles?

A Nebraska family staying at a Disney resort in Florida was struck by tragedy yesterday (June 14) when an alligator snatched the family's 2-year-old son and dragged him underwater, news sources reported. But despite the horrific incident, experts say it's rare for alligators to attack people. During yesterday's incident, the...

Jun 24, 2016

What's the World's Largest Crocodile?

Get ready for some nightmares. The world's largest crocodile is a monster of a reptile. Named Cassius, this nearly 18-foot-long (5.48 meters) Australian saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) was crowned the world's largest captive croc by Guinness World Records on Jan. 1, 2011. The animal lives at Marineland Melanesia on Green...

Sep 2, 2016

Crocodile Carving Played Ritual Role in Ancient Mesoamerican City

A centuries-old stone crocodile carving used in Mesoamerican rituals was recently discovered in Mexico, offering clues about an ancient city's ceremonial practices, and its relationship with a larger city nearby. Archaeologists found the slab of carved rock in what is now Oaxaca, near a temple in the ruins of the...

Sep 21, 2016

Modern Alligator Looks a Lot Like Its 8-Million-Year-Old Cousin

Modern American alligators crawling around today in the swampy grounds of the Southeast U.S. don't look much different than their ancient ancestors did, recent research suggests. The findings from fossils show that these scary creatures look pretty much the same as their ancestors did 8 million years ago. With the...

Nov 28, 2016

Photos: 'Giant Crocodile' Mummy Is Packed With Baby Crocs

Giant crocodile? Not exactly. (Image credit: Copyright Interspectral 2016)A mummified giant crocodile that measures 10 feet (3 meters) in length and is approximately 2,000 years old was more than it appeared to be, curators at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities recently discovered. Read the full story about the mysterious...

Nov 28, 2016

Crocodile Mummy Kept Dozens of Baby Crocs Under Wraps

High-resolution scans of a sizable Egyptian crocodile mummy have revealed a secret that the croc had literally kept under wraps for 2,000 years. There were unexpected stowaways hidden under the mummy's bandages — dozens of baby crocodiles, each one individually swaddled. Earlier scans of the mummy completed in 1996 had...

Jan 17, 2017

Later Gator! Video of Giant 'Humpback' Alligator Goes Viral

Why did the alligator cross the road? To get to the other side … very, very, slowly. A viral video of a massive, and monstrous alligator known unofficially as Humpback has just been posted on the Facebook page of a natural reserve in Florida. The giant alligator was caught trekking...

Feb 10, 2017

Orange-Hued Alligator Spotted in South Carolina

A predatory beast with leathery orange skin is gallivanting through social media, sowing fear in its wake. That's because there have been recent sightings of a tangerine-colored alligator in South Carolina. Earlier this week, members of a residential community in Hanahan, South Carolina, spotted an unusual sight near one of...

Aug 10, 2017

'Nastiest' Jurassic Croc Named for Motorhead's Lemmy

Motörhead founder, singer and bassist Ian Lemmy Kilmister, who died on Dec. 28, 2015, famously sang, I don't want to live forever, in the band's signature song, Ace of Spades. Though Kilmister is gone, scientists have ensured his name will live on — perhaps forever — as part of the...

Sep 13, 2017

Break It Up! Territorial Hippos 'Save' Wildebeest from Crocodile Attack

On a trip to Kruger National Park in South Africa, Tokkie and Mervyn Van Wyk noticed the unfortunate wildebeest by the Transport Dam water hole when a crocodile clamped its jaws down on one of the wildebeest's back legs, according to a description of the Kruger Sightings video. As seen...

Nov 27, 2017

Politician's Man-Eating Crocodile Warning Is a Load of Crock

Australian politician Bob Katter wants to launch a war … against crocodiles. Katter, known for his controversial opinions on multiple topics including same-sex marriage, claimed on Nov. 15 that there are too many crocodiles in Australia. They have no natural enemies, and in the Australian region of North Queensland alone,...

Jan 10, 2018

Alligators 'Snorkel' to Survive Ice-Covered Swamp

A video showing alligator snouts poking out though an ice-covered swamp in North Carolina during last week's cold snap may look like the preview of an avant-garde art installation, but it actually depicts an adaptive trick that helps these reptiles survive in winter weather, a wildlife ecologist said. Unlike mammals,...

Jun 7, 2018

Watch a Tied-Up Alligator Knock a Man Out With Its Hard, Reptilian Skull

American alligators are beautiful, amazing, horrible monsters. As such, there are many parts of their body that they can obviously hurt you with. Up front, they've got wide, grinning toothy mouths that can clamp down on your limbs with deadly force. In the back, they've got powerful tails for thwacking....

Jul 3, 2018

What to Do If You Come Face-to-Face with an Alligator

A teenage girl rafting in a creek got the fright of her life when an alligator nearly as long as two grand-size pianos chased her up a tree in Florida's Ocala National Forest on Friday (June 29). When the 9-foot-long (2.7 meters) alligator approached 15-year-old Jordan Broderick in the midafternoon,...

Jul 11, 2018

How Did the Massive 'Salty' Crocodile Captured in Australia Get So Freaking Big?

Australian parks and wildlife rangers captured a monster of a crocodile Monday (July 9), according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The beast was 15 feet 5 inches long (4.7 meters) and weighed a whopping 1,300 lbs. (600 kilograms). If a reptile long enough to block two lanes of traffic sounds...