In 2021 the Museum will open a new gallery exploring the environmental history of nước Australia. It will explore the non-human elements of the Australian continent– its plants, animals, geographic features and weather patterns, and the way they influence & intersect with human society.

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One of the major themes of the new gallery will be that the environment has its own agency and power, often beyond human control – cyclones, bushfires & droughts, for example.

Another powerful force is the saltwater crocodile. It is the largest of all living reptiles & belongs to a group of animals – the crocodilians– which have sầu existed since the time of the dinosaurs. Its kích thước & awesome power render humans who enter its environment totally defenceless.

Crocodile display

To show how big a saltwater crocodile can grow, the Museum has acquired a taxidermied specimen to lớn display in the new gallery. The pose of the crocodile shows it swimming, as it’s in the water that the crocodile is most powerful, killing people & other animals in underwater death rolls.

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The animal came from the Kooramãng cầu Crocodile Farm in Queensl&. It is a large male estimated to be several decades old. Although details of the exact origins of the crocodile are unknown, it is most likely khổng lồ have sầu been captured in the early 1980s from the Ingsi mê region.

When crocodile farms first started operating in the early 1980s, they built up their breeding stocks by removing ‘problem’ crocodiles from places lượt thích Cattle Creek, the Herbert River and Hinchinbrook Channel. Crocodile farms rely on their breeding programs, và because this particular crocodile had stopped breeding, it had to lớn be euthanised.

The warehouse of South Pacific Taxidermy

Taxidermy

After its death, the crocodile’s skull và skin were sent to Victorian taxidermy company South Pacific Taxidermy, to lớn be prepared for display. Whereas most taxidermied animals only feature the skin of the animal, saltwater crocodiles have lớn include the skull because the skin is fused to lớn the skull and virtually impossible khổng lồ remove in one piece.

The Museum’s new display will give visitors an appreciation of the awesome power of these magnificent creatures, và reinforce why we should never enter waters where these ancient animals live sầu. They are, without doubt, the top predators.