Largest captive croc?
Burt, in the photograph above, is a captive crocodile in Darwin, Australia. He’s over 16 feet (4.9 m) long, which is close to the average maximum size for saltwater crocodiles. There are quite a few crocodiles, however, which are definitely above average. Gomek, in the frame to the right, is a sobering comparison between a decidedly above average crocodile and man. To date, the largest crocodile in captivity is “Yai”, who is listed in the Guinness Book of Records at 19 feet and 8 inches (6.0 m) from nose to tail – that was in 2000. Today he’s just over 20 feet. Remarkably, Yai was only 30 years old at the time, and at over 1,200 kg he was rather large for his age! Today he’s even heavier, though his growth has slowed down dramatically. Yai’s growth rate is typical of captive crocodiles kept in optimum conditions with plenty of food. Yai is also a hybrid between C. porosus and C. siamensis – “hybrid vigour” is well known to result in larger, fitter animals in the first generation. There
