Three homesick crocodiles in Australia have shocked experts by returning hundreds of kilometres back to their homes after being relocated. One large croc was trapped on the west coast of Queensland’s rugged Cape York Peninsula. It was flown by helicopter to the east coast. Within three weeks it was back home, after a journey of more than 400km (250 miles). It is unclear, though, what enables the reptiles to navigate so skilfully.
Professor Franklin said crocodiles probably used many factors such as their position to the Sun, magnetic fields, sight, and smell to navigate.
“That Franklin gets on my tits,” said one crocodile, who didn’t want to be named.
“How the hell do you smell your way 250 miles? We use yer run of the mill Ordnance Survey Memory Map coupled with state of the art GPS.”
“A crocodile with GPS, how does that work?” asked our reporter.
“A GPS receiver must be locked on to the signal of at least three satellites to calculate a 2D position (latitude and longitude) and track movement. With four or more satellites in view, the receiver can determine the user’s 3D position (latitude, longitude and altitude). Once the user’s position has been determined, the GPS unit can calculate other information, such as speed, bearing, track, trip distance, distance to destination, sunrise and sunset time and more,” stated the crocodile.
“He’s not usually so snappy,” said Franklin, “it’s probably because they didn’t let him pilot the helicopter.”
