Crocodiles or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans, the gharial and false gharial among other extinct taxa.
The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology (MCBT) is a reptile zoo and herpetology research station, located 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the city of Chennai, in state of Tamil Nadu, India. The centre is both a registered trust and a recognized zoo under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and comes under the purview of the Central Zoo Authority, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. It was established with the aim of saving three Indian endangered species of crocodile—the marsh or mugger crocodile, the saltwater crocodile, and the gharial, which at the time of founding of the trust were all nearing extinction.
The freshwater crocodile, also known as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnstone's crocodile or the freshie, is a species of crocodile endemic to the northern regions of Australia. Unlike their much larger Australian relative, the saltwater crocodile, freshwater crocodiles are not known as man-eaters, although they bite in self-defence, and brief, nonfatal attacks have occurred, apparently the result of mistaken identity.
Australia Zoo is a 700-acre (280 ha) zoo in the Australian state of Queensland on the Sunshine Coast near Beerwah/Glass House Mountains. It is a member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA), and is owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, whose wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter and his family's new show Crikey! It's the Irwins made the zoo a popular tourist attraction.
Crocodile attacks on humans are common in places where large crocodilians are native and human populations live. It has been estimated that about 1,000 people are killed by crocodilians each year.
Morelia bredli is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is endemic to Australia. No subspecies are recognized. Its common names include Bredl's python, the Centralian python, the Centralian carpet python, the central Australian carpet python, Bredl's carpet python, the central Australian Bredl's carpet python, and the central Bredl's carpet python.
Stephen Robert Irwin, known as "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, wildlife educator, and environmentalist.
The Australian Reptile Park is located at Somersby on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is about 71 kilometres (44 mi) north of Sydney, and is just off the M1 Pacific Motorway, near Gosford. The Park has one of the largest reptile collections in Australia, with close to 50 species on display. The wide variety of reptile species at the Park includes snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, tuataras, American alligators and crocodiles.
A herpetarium is a zoological exhibition space for reptiles and amphibians, most commonly a dedicated area of a larger zoo. A herpetarium which specializes in snakes is an ophidiarium or serpentarium, which are more common as stand-alone entities also known as snake farms. Many snake farms milk snakes for venom for medical and scientific research.
The olive python is a species of snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is endemic to Australia. Two subspecies are recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.
On 4 September 2006, Australian zookeeper, conservationist, and television programmer Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray while filming in the Great Barrier Reef. The stingray's barb pierced his chest, penetrating his thoracic wall and heart, causing massive trauma. He was at Batt Reef, near Port Douglas, Queensland, taking part in the production of an underwater documentary Ocean's Deadliest. During a lull in filming caused by inclement weather, Irwin decided to snorkel in shallow waters while being filmed in an effort to provide footage for his daughter Bindi's television program.
Wildlife attacks in Australia occur every year from several different native species, including snakes, spiders, freshwater and saltwater crocodiles, various sharks, cassowaries, kangaroos, stingrays and stonefish and a variety of smaller marine creatures such as bluebottles, blue-ringed octopus, cone shells and jellyfish.
The Ballarat Wildlife Park is a wildlife park in Ballarat, Victoria. Opened in February 1985, it is privately owned by founder Greg Parker and his wife, Julia Leonard. The 10-hectare park holds over 300 animals, including Australian animals—there are over 100 free-roaming kangaroos—and an extensive collection of reptiles. It was once well known for housing Patrick, the common wombat who was the oldest known marsupial in captivity when he died aged around 30 years old in 2017.
Robert Harold Bredl is an Australian documentary film-maker, a reptile specialist and owner of the "Blue Planet Wildlife Park". He became known through his many documentaries, such as Killer Instinct (53 episodes), Deadly Predators (10 episodes), as well as The Barefoot Bushman series (8 episodes). His documentaries are being shown on TV stations in more than 45 countries worldwide. Rob's documentaries have so far been translated into 36 languages. His best known documentary Kissing Crocodiles has been shown in over 100 countries worldwide on Discovery Channel and National Geographic.
The Chennai Snake Park, officially the Chennai Snake Park Trust, is a not-for-profit NGO constituted in 1972 by herpetologist Romulus Whitaker and is India's first reptile park. Also known as the Guindy Snake Park, it is located next to the Children's Park in the Guindy National Park campus. Located on the former home of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, the park is home to a wide range of snakes such as adders, pythons, vipers, cobras and other reptiles. The park gained statutory recognition as a medium zoo from the Central Zoo Authority in 1995.
Robert Clarence Irwin is an Australian conservationist, television personality, zookeeper, wildlife photographer and actor. He is the son of Steve Irwin, and is often noted by fans to share similarities with his late father. Irwin hosts Robert's Real Life Adventures, a program on his family zoo's internal television network. He co-hosted the Discovery Kids Channel television series Wild But True and co-created the book series Robert Irwin: Dinosaur Hunter. He starred on the Animal Planet series Crikey! It's the Irwins with his mother, Terri, and sister, Bindi, from 2018–2022.
Rockhampton Zoo is a zoo in the Australian city of Rockhampton, Queensland.
Crocosaurus Cove is a crocodile herpetarium and aquarium zoo located in an indoor complex in the city district of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Its main focus as the facility's name indicates is the tourism drawcard of the crocodiles of northern Australia. The park has a considerable number of saltwater crocodiles including 700kg and 5.1 metre long male Burt, who appeared in 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee and made news in 2018 for 'psychic predictions' outcomes of the 2018 Soccer World Cup by reaching up and grabbing photographs of players which was seen as match and player performance 'predicting'. The facility has also had success with breeding and hatching baby crocodiles including in July 2022 with baby crocodiles hatched to parent crocodiles female Kate and male William. One of the things most well known at the facility which significantly increased visitor numbers is a 'cage of death' experience where paying visitors can swim in water with large crocodiles while protected from physical contact with them by being enclosed behind a glass safety dome. As previously mentioned a significant number of other native Australian reptiles are also kept at the facility and publicly exhibited. Mick Burns the owner is also owner of Darwin Crocodile Farm.
