the approach of danger, the plover warns its cold-blooded friend by taking 
flight. An instant later the crocodile slithers off into the murky water. 
The crocodiles possess two musk glands, which serve for sexual attrac¬ 
tion. The reptiles require a perfectly dry nesting site, where their twenty 
to thirty eggs can be hatched by the heat of the sun. After twelve weeks, the 
young begin to utter a hiccup-like sound inside the eggs and to butt against 
the shell with their single egg-teeth. The mother scrapes away the shell 
and leads her young to water. The young, a pale olive color with large 
black spots, are born with a true crocodile’s disposition, for they will at 
once snap at a man’s fingers if available. They are about eleven inches 
long and grow one foot each year for the first few years. They attain sexual 
maturity in their eighth year. Nile crocodiles enjoy an amazing fertility. 
Arthur Loveridge writes that in the first six months of 1922, 120,502 eggs 
were brought to the authorities of Tanganyika in response to a reward 
offered by them. This figure, of course, does not include those which were 
hatched. 
The natives in many parts of Africa use plaited crocodile hide for 
armor. 
36 
