546 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Pha, bf If. F. Dand,, F.Z.S. 



YOUNG BROAD-SNOUTED CROCODILE 



A native of West Africa^ remarkable far the extreme shortness and great breadth of its noz-zle 



and the feet are more or 

 less webbed. The most strik- 

 ing of its structural adapta- 

 tions is, however, associated 

 with the formation of the 

 creature's skull. The manner 

 in which a crocodile or alli- 

 gator contrives to breathe or to 

 save itself from asphyxiation, 

 when opening and shutting 

 its mouth under water, as 

 it may often be observed to 

 do in the Regent's Park 

 Menagerie, is a common 

 source of wonderment to the 

 onlooker. This seemingly 

 difficult feat is compassed by 

 virtue of the posterior nos- 

 trils, or breathing-passages, 

 being set so far back in the 

 skull, and being so completely 

 cut off from the mouth-cavity 



by specially developed bones of the palate, that they have no intercommunication with 



the mouth. It is this mechanism which enables a crocodile to seize and hold an animal 



underneath the water between its open jaws until it is drowned. Special valves at the 



back of the mouth prevent any water running down the creature's throat, while it is able 



itself to breathe unrestrainedly by allowing just the tip of its elongated snout, with the anterior 



nostril-apertures, to remain above the water's surface. In many species a conspicuous knob- 



like bony excrescence is developed at the extremity of the snout, by which the nostril-openings 



are raised turret-wise above the surface of the water. The eyes also being usually elevated 



above the level of the 



creature's head, the crocodile 



is able to approach its floating 



or bank-side prey practically 



unperceived, its huge body, 



limbs, and even the head, 



with the exception of the 



nose and eyes, being totally 



submerged. 



Although capable of 



moving with great activity 



in the water, crocodiles and 



their allies are usually ac- 



counted sluggish and slow 



movers on the land. Seen 



basking in the sun, as is 



their wont, by the hour 



together on some sand-bank, 



or creeping lazily thereon 



among their fellows, such a 



conclusion is natural. The 



Celerity, however, with which 



., 



A DEAD CROCODILE 



.4 man-eating individual. Tais particular animal has just been shot. The natives in the 

 background give a good idea of its ihu little lets than 20 feet lung 



