Dubai The UAE is now home to one of the world’s largest crocodiles. On Tuesday, Dubai Mall Aquarium and Underwater Zoo unveiled King Croc amid aplomb, making it the newest attraction in town.
As the 40-year-old Australian saltwater crocodile looked up from behind a specially built 50mm acrylic enclosure, his lady love on his chin, his sheer size left visitors stunned.
All of five metres – or six supermarket trolleys – long, King Croc weighs 750kg, equivalent to 14 fully grown men, has a head of 150kg – that’s roughly 30 human heads combined – and sports 60 razor-sharp teeth, each the size of a human finger, their bite force a staggering 3,700 pounds per square inch, the strongest known.
So where is this deadly monster from and how did he make it to Dubai?
In what is a fascinating back story, aquarium head curator Paul Hamilton said King Croc was originally rescued from the wild in Queensland, Australia, after being deemed a public risk by the authorities.
In 1986 he was moved to a man-made lake, but continued to pose safety concerns. He would take nightly strolls up an attached creek, which led to the authorities ordering his removal again. He couldn’t be reintroduced into the wild and was moved into a protected environment in Coowongo until he was brought to Dubai.
Croc challenge
Allaying fears about public safety in his new environment, Hamilton said the special eco system created for King Croc at Dubai Mall is fully secure both for the animal and those who visit him. “We’ve haven’t taken any short-cuts and there is no cause for concern.”
But what was it like to transport the animal all the way?
“Challenging to say the least,” said Greg Giarratana of Mainfreight, the Melbourne-based logistics company that helped bring King Croc to Dubai.
He told XPRESS the main issue lay in creating a container for King Croc to achieve the right dimension, temperature control and ease of movement across different locales.
“Crocodiles cannot survive in temperatures below 18 degrees Celsius or above 35 degrees Celsius. So we had to build a special AC system in the container and maintain a consistent temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.”
Creating space for an animal as large as King Croc was also a tough call. “The container had to be big enough to ensure his muscles wouldn’t stick and he could move his legs, but not roll. So we had to study every aspect of his body in detail to make the container. It was five metres long and 2.4 metres wide. The container for Queen Croc which weighs 186kg was smaller in length at three metres.”
Giarratana said it was equally challenging to comply with the space requirements of the airline and the croc’s final destination – a shopping mall. “We had to be able to convert the boxes into car trailers and then into wheeled trolleys to take the crocs across different locations. We achieved this by using dismantable parts which we could assemble.”
Before all of this, of course, lay the daunting task of caging the crocs. “King Croc certainly didn’t make it easy for us. He is a very clever animal and knew we were up to something.”
The caging effort involved draining the pond and using a fiberglass boat and excavator. The animals had to be suitably sedated as well. They were half-asleep on the 16-hour 747 flight to Dubai with a two-hour layover in Singapore. But all’s well that ends well, and the royal couple have happily settled into their new home now. “They began to eat well within a week of their arrival,” said Hamilton, adding that they mainly feed on chicken.
The two crocs, which have spent 20 years together, are also socialising – much to the delight of visitors. Zoo entry charges: Dh70 and Dh55 (child).
