Just when you thought crocodiles couldn't get even more terrifying, they go and do something like this. Apparently, crocodiles are smarter than we give them credit. Or at least it appears that way.
From an outsider perspective, it very much looks like those cunning crocs are trying to lure people to their deaths. Perhaps, they figured out that people are safe on the shore, hauntingly out of reach. A viral video showed a croc mimicking human behavior in the water. From a glance, it looks like a human flailing their hands on the surface.
A panicked person would likely mistake the movement for a drowning human. But no, it's just a crocodile sticking its feet out of the water and mimicking the motion. Locals are convinced that saltwater crocodiles in Borneo, Indonesia are mimicking drowning humans. It's not the first time one of them has done something like this.
Some believe that they are trying to lure humans into the water to eat them. However, crocodile experts are throwing a bunch of cold water on that theory. Sometimes there's more to it. Experts believe that the crocodiles are just enjoying a meal in the water Brandon Sideleau, a human and crocodile conflict researcher at Charles Darwin University, explained it's not necessarily new behavior.
He told Yahoo, "I think it's probably got some prey items in its mouth because I've seen it on some of the rivers here where saltwater crocodiles will kind of spin around underwater; you'll see their hands up in the air when they've got food in their jaws."
"It definitely wouldn't be trying to lure people in because there'd be no way for it to actually learn that," he added.
Meanwhile, Gregory Erickson, a professor in the biological science department at Florida State University, told Newsweek, "I do not believe this crocodile was trying to lure humans into the water. Such behavior would be unprecedented. These animals are inherently stealthy and don't need to resort to such extremes to access prey."
So no, they're not secretly trying to eat humans by luring them to their deaths. Still, you may want to confirm it's a drowning person and not a hungry croc before hopping into the wate.r
