In case anyone was in any doubt, this incredible image taken at a Northern Territory waterfall proves once and for all that saltwater crocodiles can climb and – when you’re in the tropics – wherever there is water, there could be a croc!
Kim Phillips was fishing off a boat on the remote Roper River to the east of Katherine when she saw a 2.5-metre saltie launch itself out of the water and attempt to climb a sheer bank.
“It was pretty amazing, I have never seen that before and I don’t think many people have,” Ms Phillips told the ABC. “It was a pretty steep bank, he just lunged himself up and started climbing … he struggled in the end and slipped down, and that’s when he decided to confront us and let us know that he didn’t want us there.”
Ms Phillips managed to film the scene on her phone and it has stunned experts.
Professor Grahame Webb told the ABC that, while it was known that crocodiles could climb, it was rarely observed.
“Crocodiles are more agile than people think, because they dig their hind feet in and they can negotiate some steep little areas if given the chance,” he said. “They can climb, but you wouldn’t put them going up Mount Everest or anything and they climb up banks all the time.”
Actually watching a crocodile leap out of the water and try to scramble up a waterfall has certainly made Ms Phillips rethink where crocodiles could be found.
“I have always heard things like they won’t be at the rapids, but we have proven now that they can climb them, so I guess nowhere is safe really,” she told the ABC. “I am hoping this has opened some eyes for people because I am wary of crocodiles as is.”
