I easily accept that the number of salt water crocodiles in northern Australia have multiplied (exponentially) is recent decades, but I don’t believe that it is their protected status that is the cause. In looking for an alternate explanation that makes more sense, I’m going to refer to history as the evidence that the removal of hunting with guns has not caused this increase, before proposing something that makes more sense to me.
The history that I want to refer to is the first European writings about what we now call far north Queensland.
Endeavour Repairs
New Holland, where the ship was laid on shore, in order to repair the damage which she received on the rock
An engraving by William Byrne done after a lost drawing likely by Sydney Parkinson in 1770. Parkinson was a Scottish botanist and natural history artist employed by Joseph Banks on Captain James Cook’s first Endeavor voyage to the Pacific from 1768-1771. The drawing was then engraved in John Hawkesworth’s Voyages (an account of the journeys by Captain Cook, Vice Admiral John Byron, and Joseph Banks published on behalf of the Admirality in 1773). Captain Cook (1728-1779) made three separate voyages to the Pacific (with the ships Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure, and Discovery) and did more than any other voyager to explore the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Cook not only encountered Pacific cultures for the first time, but also assembled the first large-scale collections of Pacific objects to be brought back to Europe. He was killed in Hawaii in 1779.
In June 1770 the ‘Endeavour’ was badly damaged running aground on the Great Barrier Reef. The ship limped into Endeavour River on the coast of New South Wales for repair. Anchors, cables and stores were carried ashore to lighten the ship which was then ‘careened’, or leant over, so that the damage could be inspected and repaired and the voyage continued.
This image is of an engraving that depicts the scene in the river that we call the Endeavour at the location where the town of Cooktown stands today. After striking the reef and being badly holed, Cook ran his ship ashore in the river so that planking could be repaired on the tides. The ship was in the river from June 17th until August 5th in 1770. During this time, Cook’s log never makes mention of a crocodile, despite his men spending hours in and beside the river each day, repairing the ship and attempting to catch enough food to supply the crew of the ship. Aborigines come to visit, walking across the river from the north side. Cook’s crew drag nets through the river by hand. No one would attempt that today, for fear of being taken by a crocodile. These activities could not be considered today. The numbers were obviously low compared to today, and I don’t think it was from the amount of hunting being done. There were no Europeans using guns to keep the numbers down back then, so what’s different now.
More likely is the theory that cane toads have eliminated the most prolific predator of the crocodile, the goanna.
Now, while goannas obviously do not predate adult saltwater crocs, they do love to find a nest of eggs and can quickly eat up dozens of them in a quick feed. A quick online search finds researchers everywhere acknowledge the impact of cane toads on the goanna population, but I didn’t find anyone that has quantified the decline, so won’t reference anyone in particular on this topic, but be sure that it is commonly known that cane toads have a big impact on goanna numbers. And if goannas are in decline, does it not make sense that more crocodile eggs will hatch and grow.
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