Worlds Biggest CROCODILES in REMOTE AUSTRALIA! Pt.2
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00:00 15 foot salty not far from where we're camped.
00:03 And little did we know the events that were going to unfold
00:06 within the next few days.
00:07 Day two here in Cape York,
00:09 we're heading out in the boat this morning
00:10 to explore a shallow swamp filled with big crocodiles.
00:14 - When you're ready, Bryce.
00:16 - Good to go.
00:17 We're just going out in the boat at the moment,
00:19 trying to spot some big lizards
00:20 sunning themselves on the bank.
00:22 Got the big camera out,
00:23 so we'll try and get some good shots of them.
00:25 See if we can get any over that four meter mark.
00:27 We know that there's big ones in here.
00:29 What's the biggest croc that's been caught
00:31 in this one section right here?
00:33 - 5.1 or 5.2 meters.
00:35 - Yeah.
00:36 - The ranger guys caught it last year,
00:37 it's been researched.
00:38 - 5.2 meters, that's a monster crocodile.
00:42 And he'd still be in this one section most likely.
00:45 - They put a tracker on him
00:46 and apparently he used to hang underneath the boats
00:49 and they wouldn't see him.
00:50 He'd just keep a very low profile.
00:52 So he could be under us right now, you'd have no idea.
00:54 - It's good to know that he's about two meters
00:56 bigger than the boat.
00:57 - Don't worry about that, mate.
00:58 (laughing)
01:00 So we just jumped out of the boat
01:13 and we're walking up this big swamp.
01:15 And while walking up here,
01:17 we've seen a bunch of feral pigs.
01:19 Big pig right there.
01:20 - Really?
01:21 - Big boar.
01:22 - Should we chase him?
01:22 - Just be careful, eh, 'cause he could charge up.
01:24 - Yeah.
01:25 (laughing)
01:26 - Just if he charges here, you go up the tree.
01:29 - Yeah.
01:30 I'll try to get a shot of him.
01:32 - He's heard us.
01:35 Oi, get here.
01:52 (laughing)
01:56 - You got scared.
01:57 - I was looking for the nearest tree.
02:00 Wait, here's a big one.
02:01 - Yeah, that was a big boar.
02:02 - So that's what the big crocs
02:05 that are in this swamp, no doubt, are feeding on.
02:07 And that's how they get to this big size,
02:09 eating so much food.
02:10 So the biggest croc that was in this big system
02:13 was 5.1, 5.2 meters?
02:15 - Yeah, about that.
02:16 They caught it in September or October last year.
02:19 - What's the biggest crocodile that's ever been caught?
02:22 - Biggest one they ever officially verified
02:25 was six meters and 17 centimeters.
02:27 Weighed over one ton in weight.
02:28 It was a salty caught in the Philippines in 2011.
02:33 They brought it in captivity.
02:36 Unfortunately, it died a couple months later
02:38 just from poor husbandry.
02:40 And the stress of being brought into captivity
02:43 was just too much for a big croc like that.
02:45 There's claims out there of seven, eight,
02:47 nine meter crocodiles, but no one can prove them.
02:50 No one can put tape measures on them.
02:51 And to be honest, sometimes you look at a big croc
02:55 from the right angle and it does look a lot bigger
02:57 than what you think.
02:58 So I don't blame fishermen or people
03:00 that haven't really worked with crocodiles
03:03 to come up with these big sizes.
03:05 - A six meter, 17 centimeter croc is just huge.
03:09 One in a million.
03:10 - Yeah, very, very rare individual, that one.
03:13 To get to that size, you would have had
03:14 to have excellent conditions growing up.
03:17 So plenty of food, maybe good genetics.
03:19 Not much stress in the environment,
03:21 not much competition from other crocodiles.
03:24 There's lots of different factors that will determine
03:25 how they grow.
03:26 - It's said that that croc could have eaten people
03:29 over in that country as well.
03:30 - Yeah, there's claims that he was,
03:33 well, I think he was caught because, yeah,
03:34 a few villages were going missing.
03:36 (ominous music)
03:39 - Archerfish.
03:52 (ominous music)
03:54 Yep.
04:03 Yep.
04:05 Barra.
04:07 There we go.
04:09 Just a little fella, you reckon he's legal?
04:12 - Oh, I don't know.
04:13 - He'd be borderline.
04:15 - Yeah, pretty close, I don't think it's legal.
04:19 Such a good looking fish, but there could be more in here.
04:23 He just came from the snag right there.
04:25 Just spear them, just like that, he's kicked off now.
04:29 Because all that commotion in the water,
04:31 all that's doing is attracting crocodiles.
04:33 So this croc up on the bank here,
04:46 we think it's a young male.
04:48 He's probably about, maybe around 3.3 metres, 3.5,
04:51 and at that size, it puts him just over
04:54 the max size of a female.
04:56 They don't really get over three metres.
04:58 Now, this croc's actually got a scoot missing
05:01 at the back of its tail.
05:03 Now, they do that when they do research on crocodiles,
05:05 so it gives them an ID number,
05:07 and we're gonna try our best to ID this crocodile,
05:10 get a number off of it.
05:11 This croc may have even been caught
05:14 by Steve Irwin back in the day.
05:15 He did a lot of research in this area.
05:17 Him and his Australia Zoo team.
05:19 That's really cool to see some scutucrow crocs.
05:22 You don't get to see that too often.
05:23 - And that Steve could have caught that crocodile.
05:25 - It's possible, when it was a lot younger.
05:28 That croc, he could be 25, maybe 30 years old.
05:33 It's hard to age him.
05:34 So he could have been caught when he was a little fella.
05:37 But we'll try our best to find out.
05:39 (water splashing)
05:42 Yeah.
05:53 Oh, again.
05:56 Yeah, there we go.
05:59 Barra.
06:02 Little fella.
06:04 Oh, such a nice looking fish.
06:09 Oh, yeah.
06:11 You got him?
06:14 Surely it's legal.
06:16 Yes, it's legal.
06:22 Okay.
06:23 There we go.
06:27 Come up here, mate.
06:33 Oh, look at the colors on it.
06:35 - That's a goldie.
06:36 (leaves rustling)
06:39 - How's that, eh?
06:41 - That's what we want.
06:41 Cape York Barra.
06:43 Out in this little swamp as well.
06:46 This is the same swamp that those pigs were
06:48 earlier this morning.
06:49 - Yeah.
06:50 - So I reckon we chuck him in the boat
06:51 and maybe go for a spotlight up this creek,
06:54 see if we can find any crocs up here.
06:55 - Yeah, he's dinner, this guy.
06:57 (crickets chirping)
07:00 (crickets chirping)
07:03 - So we're eye shining some real big crocs up here
07:18 in this big stretch of river.
07:20 Now, the funny thing about the really big ones,
07:22 these four, five meter crocs, is you can see them.
07:25 They're massive eyes shining from about 200 meters away.
07:28 But from that distance, they go down.
07:30 These are smart crocodiles.
07:32 They've survived up until that point.
07:34 So we could have even shined that big 5.2 meter croc
07:38 from a few hundred meters away.
07:39 And since he got caught last year,
07:41 he's a bit wary of humans at the moment.
07:43 But we've seen some really cool things.
07:45 Crocodiles sitting up on the bank.
07:47 Now, it's a hard life being a small crocodile
07:49 'cause you're getting attacked by barra.
07:51 You're getting attacked by bigger crocodiles.
07:53 Even a croc not too much bigger will have a go at ya.
07:55 So yeah, that's why these crocs are sticking
07:57 to the shallower areas, the little rocky banks.
08:00 But yeah, how cool is that?
08:02 All right, so we're back at camp now.
08:04 Successful day, saw a bunch of crocs.
08:06 Got a big barra.
08:07 Now, these barra, they can get well up over a meter long.
08:11 So taking one about this size,
08:13 perfect for a feed out here in Cape York.
08:15 Great sports fish, and they taste great as well.
08:17 This one's got a lot of food on it for us.
08:19 Just made a little fire, wait for it to die down into coals.
08:22 (fire crackling)
08:25 All right, chuck it on the paper bark.
08:42 Let it cool off and try it.
08:45 Look at that.
08:46 Cheers, bros.
08:49 Cheers.
08:50 (birds chirping)
08:52 It's all right, aye?
08:53 - Yeah, it's better than I thought
08:56 swamp barra would taste like.
08:57 - You wanna try a cut?
08:59 - I'll be right.
09:00 - One for you, one for you, one for me.
09:04 - Does everyone just want lemon though?
09:06 - Might as well, do you not want it?
09:08 - Yeah, just put it all over.
09:09 - Try the tail cut, it's like a potato chip.
09:12 - Good meal?
09:13 - Mm.
09:15 - There you go.
09:17 (engine revving)
09:42 (engine revving)
09:45 - So we're just heading through the bush at the moment.
09:58 We're making our way to this rock bath,
10:01 which has big crocs, big lizards, and big fish.
10:05 We're gonna try to get a big barramundi,
10:07 like the one we cooked up last night.
10:09 And there could be big four meter crocs
10:11 sitting in this right here.
10:13 - Yeah, they could at the moment, yeah, yeah.
10:14 - Have you ever seen big crocs sitting in here?
10:16 - Not in this bit, but I know guys that have seen it
10:18 just on the edge of that rock bar there.
10:20 - Yeah.
10:24 Just across this river, not a very deep river at all,
10:35 and we've spotted a big crocodile,
10:37 looks to be over four meters long.
10:39 This is a monster croc.
10:40 35 degrees today, it's shallow in here.
10:42 You can see the bottom,
10:43 might look like a beautiful place to go for a swim,
10:46 up here in the top end.
10:47 And there's a four meter croc
10:48 just sitting over the other side there.
10:50 Look at his tail.
10:51 And these crocs, they don't feel safe in this shallow water,
10:54 so I wouldn't doubt if he starts heading back up
10:56 to a deeper pool, whether it's up or down the river.
10:59 Now this is a very old animal,
11:00 and a very intelligent animal,
11:02 'cause you've seen a lot of the smaller crocs
11:04 that we've found on this trip so far.
11:06 They're being hunted by the big ones,
11:08 but it's kind of fair, because at one point,
11:11 that bigger croc would have only been this big,
11:13 and it would have been getting hunted
11:14 by bigger crocs in the system as well.
11:16 It's an ecosystem that flows so naturally,
11:18 you kind of forget when you go back home
11:20 that all of these animals that are living out here
11:23 are still surviving wherever you are in your life.
11:25 This is incredible.
11:26 This crocodile's about to jump over this little rock.
11:31 We'll get a good look at him, see how big he is.
11:33 He is massive.
11:34 He's definitely over four meters.
11:38 And it looks, yeah, it looks like he's missing
11:41 a part of his tail as well.
11:42 I reckon with the full tail,
11:46 he could be pushing 4.2 to 4.5 meters.
11:49 That's crazy.
11:50 That is a massive animal.
11:51 We're just gonna sit here and watch this take place.
11:55 This is one of the most amazing experiences
11:57 I've ever had with an animal,
11:59 let alone a crocodile, deep in Cape York.
12:02 (soft music)
12:04 Yeah, he's on that, he's on that.
12:13 See Argo?
12:28 Yeah, look.
12:30 (soft music)
12:33 (water rushing)
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12:39 (water rushing)
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12:44 (water rushing)
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12:49 (water rushing)
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12:54 (water rushing)
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12:59 (water rushing)
13:02 (soft music)
13:04 (water rushing)
13:07 (soft music)
13:09 (water rushing)
13:12 (soft music)
13:14 (water rushing)
13:17 (soft music)
13:19 (water rushing)
13:22 (soft music)
13:51 The amount of respect and love we have for these species,
13:55 to come out here to a place like this,
13:57 and a place where Steve Irwin used to walk,
14:00 he would have walked up this creek right here,
14:02 and to see these big crocodiles,
14:05 is just the coolest thing ever,
14:07 and this is what we live for right here.
14:09 You can see him swimming off right there.
14:11 (laughing)
14:12 - That's insane.
14:14 - Yeah, there we go.
14:16 See you, mate.
14:17 (soft music)
14:19 (soft music)
14:22 - Should we swap lands?
14:38 - Yeah, I think that one's bigger.
14:39 - Swap lands.
14:40 (soft music)
14:43 - G'day, mate.
14:44 I gotta get past ya.
14:45 How are you going?
14:48 This fella's sitting up on the bank right here,
14:51 watching out for the big crocs,
14:52 because just up that way,
14:54 after filming that crocodile,
14:56 we saw an even bigger one,
14:57 sitting down here on the bank.
14:59 You're pretty cool, mate.
15:01 I gotta squeeze past ya.
15:03 See ya.
15:04 So what I'm doing now,
15:06 is I'm just walking the banks of this river,
15:08 and I'm gonna get my drone up in the air,
15:10 to see if I can find any good little pools
15:13 that we can maybe catch some fish in,
15:14 and there might even be some big crocs
15:16 hanging around this area.
15:17 This river is seriously so beautiful.
15:20 So yeah, we'll get it up and see if we can find any.
15:22 Crazy to think that there's big crocs
15:23 hanging around this area.
15:25 I'm gonna fly it over slow,
15:27 see if I can spot any sitting in the shallows.
15:29 It'd be pretty cool to find one.
15:30 There we go.
15:32 Another big crocodile.
15:33 He's just as big as the last one,
15:36 probably about four and a bit meters long.
15:38 He could even be the same crocodile,
15:39 just further downstream.
15:41 (soft music)
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16:04 (screeching)
16:29 (soft music)
16:31 Final night of the trip.
16:43 We're going on our last night walk.
16:45 It's been a pretty epic adventure out here in Cape York.
16:48 We've seen about 40 or so crocodiles
16:50 over the past three days.
16:52 We're gonna try to bump that number up a little bit tonight.
16:55 See if we can get to 50.
16:56 There's some big crocs hanging around
16:58 this shallow stretch of river.
16:59 Yep, there we go.
17:01 Come on.
17:05 Get it in, Raz.
17:06 Keep your rod tip up.
17:09 Get in here.
17:11 Oh, he's not actually massive.
17:13 Yes!
17:14 Not a bad little fish at all.
17:17 What a cool way to end this trip.
17:18 We thought we'd just come out here
17:20 for a bit of a fish on the last night
17:22 before we head out of Cape York.
17:24 And yeah, got myself a nice barramundi.
17:26 They're coming on the chew at the moment.
17:27 It's a bit hard to film in the dark.
17:29 But yeah, that's so cool right there.
17:31 We'll get him back in the water.
17:33 He's legal, but I don't think
17:34 we're gonna eat him for dinner, eh?
17:35 We've got one, two, three, four, five,
17:38 six, seven, eight,
17:40 nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
17:46 15 crocs right there.
17:49 There's 16, there's 17 down there.
17:52 And all the ones over there
17:54 in about 20 by 20 meter little pool.
17:56 I'm actually a bit stumped as to why
17:58 they're all sitting there,
17:59 because that's on the edge of the deeper water
18:01 and why they're not spread out here.
18:03 So pretty crazy to see that.
18:06 - Takes the numbers up for this trip, eh?
18:08 How many crocs we seen all up on this trip?
18:10 - What did we see just then?
18:11 15 there, 20, let's say 24 tonight.
18:15 Probably looking at about 55, 60 crocs.
18:19 That's not a bad effort for three nights.
18:22 That's individual crocs, it's not the same ones, you know?
18:25 - Yeah.
18:25 - Big ones, little ones.
18:28 Yeah.
18:29 - So while fishing here in the top end,
18:33 it's very important that if you get a lure snagged
18:36 right near that water's edge, cut your losses.
18:38 It's not worth it.
18:39 People have lost their lives retrieving lures
18:42 by big crocs attacking them right near the bank.
18:44 Bro, do you actually know someone who has got attacked
18:47 while getting a lure back up here in Cape York?
18:49 - Yeah, so last year I was lucky enough
18:51 to meet a guy called Marco.
18:53 He's a local from Mariba,
18:55 and he was up a couple of hours north from here.
18:58 He was fishing along this bank,
18:59 and his lure got tangled down near the edge of the water.
19:02 Marco made the mistake of going down to the water's edge,
19:06 just like this.
19:07 By the time his brain registered, that's a croc head.
19:10 It was too late.
19:11 We had a four meter croc jumped out.
19:13 He's actually hit back onto the bank.
19:17 The crocs grabbed him on the foot.
19:19 He had big boots on,
19:20 which probably saved his foot from being crushed.
19:22 In the commotion, crocs actually grabbed,
19:25 his other foot pinned him like this,
19:26 and started doing a U-turn back towards the water.
19:29 He remained calm and calculated in this situation.
19:32 Croc dragged him about 10 meters through the water,
19:35 through the shallows.
19:36 He waited till he could float,
19:38 pulled out his bowie knife,
19:40 and he knew he couldn't stab it in the head
19:42 'cause their head's like a piece of steel,
19:43 wouldn't do anything.
19:44 So he stabbed it right in the jaw,
19:46 which is the neck of the croc.
19:47 It sunk in like butter, he said,
19:49 and the croc let go.
19:51 Now, the funny thing about this story
19:53 is before he went for the walk for the fishing,
19:56 he actually left his knife back at camp, he told me.
20:00 He walked about 100 meters up,
20:02 and he went, "Oh, where's my knife?"
20:04 Turned around, went back and got it,
20:06 and that's what saved his life.
20:08 Not many people are around to tell that story
20:10 of being attacked by a big croc that size.
20:12 He was very, very lucky.
20:14 - Remaining that calm under pressure,
20:15 wait to get dragged out into the deeper water
20:18 so that he could get his knife out.
20:20 - Yeah, he's a very experienced bushman, Marco,
20:22 and yeah, very, very lucky.
20:24 - And crocodiles, really tough animals.
20:27 That stab wound in the neck,
20:29 he's probably already healed up by now.
20:30 - Oh yeah, it wouldn't kill him, not at all.
20:32 Crocs can do horrible things to each other,
20:34 ripped legs, tails.
20:36 We saw one that was missing half its tail.
20:38 - You were saying the croc up there
20:39 is missing its front leg, its back leg,
20:41 and half of its tail.
20:43 It's had a pretty rough run, hey?
20:45 - Definitely survivors.
20:46 They can cut off blood flow to a limb,
20:48 to even the major arteries.
20:51 It's called vasoconstriction.
20:53 So the capillaries and everything just tighten inside of the,
20:56 you know, the blood vessels just tighten and constrict.
21:01 And their immune system is very efficient as well.
21:03 They rarely get infections in situations like that.
21:06 - And you know, it's a cool story to have,
21:08 but most people aren't that lucky.
21:11 You're not surviving a croc attack
21:13 when a big croc wants you nine out of 10 times, hey?
21:16 - Yeah, not too many people.
21:18 The big crocs got them in the water.
21:20 Not too many of them are around today.
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