Meet King Croc the latest addition to Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo

Gulf News

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo add a new saltwater crocodile named King Croc to their exhibition.   Read the full article on gulfnews.com - Meet King Croc: Huge crocodile greets Dubai Mall visitors http://bit.ly/2UQEwpQ  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos

Transcript

00:00Something big has come to Dubai.

00:12Something really big.

00:17Meet King Croc, an enormous saltwater crocodile and the proud new addition to the Dubai Aquarium

00:21and Underwater Zoo.

00:23King Croc is 40 years old and has the potential to grow even bigger in the next 50 years of

00:27his expected lifespan.

00:28At over 5 meters long and weighing more than 750 kilograms, the equivalent of over 15 fully

00:33grown men, he is one of the largest representatives of his species.

00:37His bite force is estimated to be about 3,700 pounds per square inch, the highest bite force

00:41for any animal.

00:42His head weighs over 150 kilograms and his 60 razor sharp teeth are the size of an average

00:47index finger.

00:49King Croc and his female companion of 20 years now reside in a special enclosure at Underwater

00:53Zoo that replicates their natural habitat.

00:55The awe-inspiring reptile comes from a crocodile farm in Australia where he has been residing

01:00since 1996.

01:01The actual capture process, it required a large number of people.

01:07We would have had somewhere in the vicinity of 20 men working on the job.

01:12Certainly once you've managed to get the first ropes on him, it takes a little bit of willpower

01:18just to hold him steady and then once we get access to him then we can sedate him and from

01:24there on it's pretty much a sleep process for the crocodile.

01:28What's really exciting to see is that within just a week of that transport, King Croc and

01:35Queen Croc are already interacting so they have their way of talking to each other and

01:39socializing and they're already doing that which is, that's awesome for us to see.

01:44And he's even picking up food which, you know, crocodiles can go a year without eating so

01:49for a crocodile to eat after a week really just means that he's settled in.

01:53The new home for King Croc and his companion at Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo is three

01:57times the size specified for such species by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

02:02It replicates the environment of Queensland with controlled humidity and constant monitoring

02:06of air quality and water temperature which is maintained between 28 to 30 degrees Celsius.

02:11The crocodiles are expected to spend nearly 90% of their time in the central 150 square

02:16meter pool which has a number of fish species and the remaining time resting on land with

02:20heated tiles.

02:22Logan Fish for Gulf News.

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