You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: There is a population of dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemus tetraspis) in Gabon that live their entire lives inside a cave, and has orange skin because of acidic bat guano
I'm really surprised to hear about a crocodile eating insects. I'm not surprised about the crustaceans or frogs, but I never would have considered something like crickets being a reliable food source. I mean, I get that animal's primary food sources are insects, but unlike an ant-eater, the anatomy of the jaw structure isn't really suitable. Can you really image what that would look like? chomping away at crickets as they zip by. I wonder how many would be a sufficient lunch...
Yeah, it is pretty strange! It would be interesting to see how their diet is by percentages. So far I have only found sources that say that they eat crickets, algae and bats, but I would be very interested to learn what their main food is, and how many crickets they typically eat.
One thing that is pretty cool is that crocodiles don't really need to eat much if they don't move. Some species can easily go a year or longer without any food, but again, I'm not sure how this is like for the cave-dwelling dwarf crocodiles.
Yeah, and it's crazy to think of how long some lifeforms remain motionless until food arrives. I've heard that crocodiles, alligators, some snakes, and most spiders use this strategy . It's kind of weird to think about doing nothing for such long time frames just to eat. I'm not sure exactly how long, but I do recall seeing something about how ticks will remain possibly motionless for years until a host walked by, to which it then attaches and gorges it'self with blood until the next wait. It's an interesting way to life.
I agree that this is really cool! Now I kind of want to try to find out which animal species is capable of sitting completely still the longest :)