Photo of the Day - the Kinabatangan Beast

Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) or the salty is the largest living reptile on the planet. Old males can reach the length of 6-7 meters and the weight of far over thousand kilos. Salties are excellent swimmers and apex predators taking almost everything from fish to mammals. The species can live in saltwater, but normally prefers river estuaries.  

Unlike sharks, the dangerous reputation of the saltwater crocodile is well earned. In Australia it´s know of it´s aggressiveness and of the regular attacks towards people. Salties are killing bunch of people every year. In Borneo the species appears to be somewhat more relaxed and the attacks towards people were unknown concept until 17th of May 2009, when a salty took a swimming local fisherman just few kilometers out from our camp. A lose head was the only thing left to proof the cruelty, the locals said. 

This guy is photographed a kilometer outside from our camp on the river bank. It´s an especially large specimen, being at least 5 meters long. Could he be the one who ate the poor fisherman just day before taking this shot?