Henry the nile crocodile

Aug 7, 2025 3:42 PM

wolfwinter

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22284

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481

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10

Crocodile longevity is not well established, but larger species like the Nile crocodile live longer, and may have a potential maximum life span of 70 to 100 years, though no crocodilian species commonly exceeds a lifespan of 50 to 60 years in captivity.

How about people leave him the fuck alone? Dude has earned some peace

11 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

The crazy part to me is that they have evolved to this state 80 million years ago. That's a fine tuned species. Do not mess around.

11 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

"And now..."

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Great dental hygiene.

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I too was born in the 20th century

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

so many crocodile expert online today

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The Nick Cannon of dinosaurs.

11 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

They told him how old he was but he was in denial

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

So the maximum potential lifespan is 70-100 years, and this crocodile was born in 1900? Math ain't mathing. Either they rounded down on Nile's birth year, or it's time to update that theoretical maximum.

11 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Yeah I checked the nile croc wiki, and the "Source" for that is "The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. Sterling Pub Co Inc."

So basically a source that would need to cite another source.

11 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Bitch I was born in the 1900s you ain’t special

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

He just needs some good scritches and a bellyrub!

11 months ago | Likes 50 Dislikes 0

I can fix him

11 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

If he was born in 1900 I'd say his potential maximum life span is at least 125, not 100 (quick search seems like he's still alive)

11 months ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

His friend could easily sneak up on him. Maybe not wise to turn his back to the others?

11 months ago | Likes 24 Dislikes 1

Same thought. Clever girl time…

11 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Maybe it is not wise to crawl onto a 125 year old killing machine in the first place.

11 months ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

I like your dog.

11 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Glorious beast

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

11 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

They weren’t kidding when they said “In a while, crocodile”

11 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

You don't know gators?

https://youtu.be/44LXQOWpO4E

11 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Good lord... that croc looks like he takes at least a dozen people to keep him pinned down during health checkups. O_O

11 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

*Hatched

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Thing is, Nile crocs aren't even the largest species. That's the saltwater crocodile. Current record holder was 6.17 m long and north of a megagram in weight, but reports exist of even larger specimens.

11 months ago | Likes 20 Dislikes 1

What is that in American?

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

About 7 washing machines

11 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

... A megagram? I'm all in favor of metric, I'm European, but literally nobody would use that outside of very specific scientific parlance. 1000 kilograms is a ton. Our, y'know, 1000 kilograms.

11 months ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 1

I kinda like Megagram. Because there are a few variations of ton/Tonne, but Mega works in the existing scheme of prefixes used by metric.

11 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 3

I weight 90 millitonnes.

11 months ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

He seems a bit pissed

11 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Just gonna have your back turned to the other handful of crocs behind you?

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

And they determined this how?

11 months ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 1

He was photographed alongside Wonder Woman at the Paris Olympics in 1900.

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 2

They asked him

11 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Maybe he was hatched in a zoo or preservation area that tracks the animals

11 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

the rings

11 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

The rings around his tail—I’m joking, this isn’t a thing

11 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 3

That's exactly how you tell the age. Crocs have growth rings on their osteoderms (the skin bumps) This is what they look like.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Micrograph-of-a-transversely-sectioned-osteoderm-of-breeding-adult-male-No-6307-1063_fig3_248886794

Henry was about 85 when he was captured in 1985, been at the Croc park since.

11 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

When the caught him in 1985 they sampled an osteoderm (the bump in the skin). It has growth rings like a tree, crocs eat in the early dry season, when water is scarce and more animals come to the few water pools. So each year there is a peak of growth. This is what that look like under a microscope

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Micrograph-of-a-transversely-sectioned-osteoderm-of-breeding-adult-male-No-6307-1063_fig3_248886794

11 months ago | Likes 51 Dislikes 0

The abstract of that paper says this method is only accurate within +-1 year for ages "up to about 20 years". So it sounds like Crocworld's claim is just an estimate.

11 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Thank you for dropping the science sauce.

11 months ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 0

11 months ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

So crocs have growth rings - how cool is that!

11 months ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Well then @OP's text, outlining that they may grow as old as 100 years, seems off by at the very least 25%.

11 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

That's fucking rad, thank you.

11 months ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Here I was gonna make a fucking joke about chopping him in half and counting the rings, but that's (sorta) what they did!

11 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1