Crocodiles in the mall!
Does it happen anywhere other than Thailand? Crocs in malls!
As part of a fish and underwater exhibition held in a Bangkok mall, numerous fresh and salt water creatures were put on show. Competitions were held for things such as the; biggest Koi Carp, fattest gold fish and most ornate aquarium 'world'.
Stalls were set up to inform visitors of the vast uses of remotely-operated underwater vehicles with some cool examples on show. Others aimed to teach people of ocean/water conservation as well as wildlife protection.
A 'crocodile conservation, education and training center', usually closed to public visitors had also attended and quickly became the top attraction. Easy to do when you have a 4 meter 500-600kg crocodile on show (+ 5 friends and about 20 baby crocs).
Strangely for a conservation center the products on sale contradicted their name. Crocodile souvenirs were on sale such as skins, meat, crocodile blood capsules- for good health!, skulls, belts and more.
The breeding program had some basic information but looking at the photos and old egg shells on show- they were doing pretty well.
It certainly felt weird walking through the mall next to McDonald's, shoe shops and department stores and having crocodile pens to the other side.
Their release program or sanctuary protection info wasn't displayed clearly but staff were more than happy to explain and found someone who took time to explain both the difficulties they faced and successes they had.
Walking around further showed a huge variety of different marine life- here are some of the better photos I took through the glass.
I am not sure if this little guy won any prizes in the competitions, but he should have won fattest fish face lol.
Please keep FOLLOWING for more of my posts and thanks for your support :)
Oh my gosh! That is so random @thinkit! I have never seen a crocodile in a mall before so when you described the pen next to shoe shops and eateries it really painted the picture. Thank you for sharing this! Awesome!
Recommended Reading
myday #36 - Landscape + Travel Photography
A random as it comes I guess. At least McDonald's were serving a McCroc burger lol
Haha! Would you like eggs with that? ;)
lol egg shells were for sale at around 70cents and 1usd for 'full' eggs that were infertile and crocless!
Cool Post
Thank you. Learned a few things wondering around there today.
He is huge! Interesting to see :)
He looked much bigger in real too.
Not where they belong.
Agree with you. I did question the fact that perhaps a few were need to help with awareness to make their release or re-homing/replacement programs succeed. Hopefully these crocs will see freedom one day- I think (maybe wrong) reptiles can always rely on their hunting instincts unlike mammals- when they are in captivity for too long.
Crocodiles are awesome, but scary at the same time if it gets too big. I've been staying in Thailand for quite a while now. I hope to see this in person. By the way, your photos are spectacular. Following you!
Thanks. Its nice seeing them close up but never seen a wild one- don't think there are many left. Followed u back and will check your blog :)
I have never seen crocodile in real life
They are amazing and look so powerful.
@thinkit - "blood capsules- for good health" for sure it's yummy :P but I would like to try crocodile meat though.
If you have a moment please check my posts about Warsaw, the capital of Poland. I think you may like story about street food :)
All the best!
I'll take a look :) thanks for your comment.