Young Salty
A juvenile saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) basks on the roots of a mangrove tree on the Bentara River, close to Bentota, Sri Lanka. While this little fellow wasn’t much more than a metre in length, adult male salties are the largest living reptiles on earth, and can grow up to 7m and weigh over 1,000kg. Females are much smaller and lighter, rarely over 3m in length. Successful conservation in Sri Lanka has seen saltwater and mugger crocodile numbers increase sharply in recent years. These growing numbers have seen an increase of crocodile sightings — and attacks — in Sri Lanka as crocodiles expand their territories downriver into more populated suburban areas.
Shot on assignment for Serendib, the inflight magazine of SriLankan Airlines, as part of my story, Eternal Bentota, which runs in the November 2016 issue.
