Wednesday, November 17, 2010

cairns.com.au

Conjoined crocs on cards

Daniel Bateman
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
© The Cairns Post

Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures Sideshow 2010 - Photographed by Jake Nowakowski
A CAIRNS crocodile farm could have a conjoined crocodile on its hands after the discovery of a rare type of egg inside a croc nest.
Wildlife keepers from Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures have been busy collecting eggs since their saltwater crocodiles started nesting three weeks ago.
In one of the nests was an extremely rare conjoined egg, which has been placed in an incubator, where it will stay until it hatches in February.
When it hatches, wildlife keeper Clay Mitchell said there was a possibility it could hold conjoined twins.
"I suppose you could call them twins, but not identical, which would be the case if they came from one egg," Mr Mitchell said.
"However, looking at the egg, it could technically be classed as one egg but with two separate yolks."
The croc farm, about 40km north of Cairns, has only had a couple of double eggs in the 76 years it has been in operation, but this is the first time a fertile double egg has been found.
Once crocodile eggs are laid, the yolk settles to the bottom of the egg with the embryo sitting on top drawing its nutrients throughout the incubation process.
To enhance the chance of the hatchlings in the egg surviving, the egg was collected in the exact position it was laid.
"We’ll hopefully get two healthy crocodiles coming out," Mr Mitchell said.
Saltwater crocodile mating season is usually triggered by the start of the wet season.
At Hartley’s, crocodiles this year started mating early, possibly because of warmer weather.
There are about a dozen nests at the farm’s man-made lagoon, with staff collecting 150 eggs so far.
Mr Mitchell said it was often a dangerous job collecting eggs.
"There’s always an element of danger and with this profession, your worst evil would be complacency," he said.
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<strong>Seeing double: </strong>Rhod Roth from Hartley's Creek Crocodile Adventures with the rare conjoined egg. The crocodiles at the farm started nesting earlier this month.
Seeing double: Rhod Roth from Hartley's Creek Crocodile Adventures with the rare conjoined egg. The crocodiles at the farm started nesting earlier this month.

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