ナショナルジオグラフィックのインスタグラム(natgeo) - 8月2日 00時45分

photo by @randyolson | words by @neilshea13 — At that time of year the water ran high and from a boat you could spot trails made by gravid females as they hauled themselves up the riverbank to scratch nests in fresh mud. If you were daring or hungry or poor enough, the nests waited like prizes at the tops of those raw slick ruts—caches filled with 40, 50, 60 eggs, each a tiny universe of salt and protein. The best hunters worked in teams. Some of the boys dug into the nest while others watched for mother, who might return at any moment. It was hard to imagine, during those rushed raids, the one-ton potential of the creatures curled inside the eggs—to imagine those baby crocs hatching and growing huge on a diet of dogs and barramundi, haunting the rivers for a century. Easier to just fill a bucket and trade them in at a croc farm for a few bucks. Anyway you’d never see how they turned out—flensed and stretched into belts. You’d never wear the expensive boots made from bellies and tails. Hunger was your outfit, and so you scooped out the eggs and let the cash warm your pocket for a while. The rest of us, having forgotten the ancient nightmare—the one about being eaten alive—watch from safe distance. We stay in the boat, daydreaming of close calls, Crocodile Dundee and animal welfare. Not needing to risk all for an egg, we pay for reminders of how often we ended up lunch.
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#australia #topend #northernterritory #outback #bush #outback #adelaideriver #saltwatercrocodile #crocodile #barramundi #rivers #natgeo #photographers #writers #adryseason #watershedstories
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Part of a series exploring the small stories that surround and connect us, and how we stumble through them—capturing, missing, and making meaning.

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