Staying cool is important to saltwater crocs

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-11-06 11:01

Australia; QLD; NT

fvanrenterghem, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

For Aussie saltwater crocodiles staying cool may be just as important as warming up, according to new research which found they can alter their behaviour to change their body temperature and cool off in warmer weather. The team tracked the body temperature of 163 crocodiles over 3 years and found that while their body temperature mostly matched the local water temperature they were able to change their behaviour to to cool down in summer, as well as warm up in winter, and that this temperature regulating behaviour was size-dependent, with a greater frequency of both warming and cooling observed for larger individuals and very small individuals. The researchers say this ability to cool off may help them compensate for climate change.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Cooling down is as important as warming up for a large-bodied tropical reptile

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Crocodiles need to keep cool in a warming world. We tracked the body temperature of a population of estuarine crocodiles across 13 years and found that crocodiles matched water temperature most of the time. However, we identified periods of warming during winter, and cooling during summer, which suggests that crocodiles have some ability to regulate their body temperature – particularly if those crocodiles are larger. Individual body temperatures differed, with some crocodiles tending to be warmer than others, and some tending to be more consistent than others. Our results highlight the resilience of crocodiles in the face of climate warming.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Queensland, University of the Sunshine Coast, Charles Darwin University

Funder: This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage scheme with Australia Zoo and CSIRO as industry partners (LP140100222). Donations toward research and field costs were also received from the Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors (https:// wildlifewarriors.org.au/conservation- projects/crocodile-research

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