Dissecting a crocodile

Current location: SINAC station Palo Verde National Park, Guanacaste N10°20’52’’ W85°21’10’’

We saw something rolling in the water. It was a crocodile, a dead one. We decided to put it in the boat, because who wouldn’t want to roll with a crocodile smelling of death for a couple of hours whilst looking for crocodile nests? The crocodile had been shot in the head, and since it looked “fresh” we assumed that it had occurred recently. We kept an eye out for illegal hunters, but we didn’t see anyone that early in the morning. We had waked up at 5.30 am to take advantage of the high tide. We revisited nest No. 4 to remove some more eggs, this time a little older than they were before. Yesterday I told one of the guards about my theory about why there are more males than females, and a dead crocodile could prove my theory right: The “males” in the river aren’t males – they’re females with penises. The only way to check a crocodile’s sex is to feel for their reproductive organs in their cloaca. In other words, one has to stick in two fingers and feel around for a penis. To answer everyone’s question, yes, I have raped a crocodile, but they really don’t seem to mind. The penis of the male is always erected, so it is a very effective way of checking the sex. But here comes the interesting part, the development of respective reproductive system is controlled by an enzyme called aromatase, the enzyme that I believe to be inhibited from working due to pollution in the area. If this enzyme doesn’t work, then there is at least a possibility that, theoretically, females could develop penises. Unfortunately for me, the dead crocodile was a female, and so I couldn’t test my theory. And because dead crocodiles don’t grow on trees I guess I’ll have to accept for now that it remains just a theory. All in all, it was a great experience dissecting such a large animal, but I must admit having a 2-meter dead animal baking in the sun for hours in a boat that doesn’t have enough space to begin with was less pleasant. Chau!

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