Scientists believe the reptiles have shifted from marine prey towards land-based food sources in the Territory, helping to boost numbers
, analysed differences between the diets of 24 contemporary saltwater crocodiles caught near Darwin and 22 historical specimens caught between 1968 and 1986.Hamish Campbell, a professor at Charles Darwin University and leader of the research project, said the carbon and nitrogen signatures were more depleted in the present-day crocodiles, indicating that they were feeding more on terrestrial food sources.
“We think of crocodiles as aquatic animals, but they’re obviously having quite serious implications for … feral pig ecology. , published in 2018, found that saltwater crocodiles in Kakadu national park derive a large proportion of their nutrients from land animals.rising crocodile numbers“Crocodiles have gone from a population of … probably a few thousand individuals across the top of Australia in the 1970s, to over 100,000 adults in the Northern Territory alone.”