cooperative crocodiles

[rowe@lepomis.psych.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe)]

Someone asked about whether or not observation of the cooperative
hunting behavior of crocodilians has been formally published, and I
thought this might be of general interest to the list.  Christopher
McGowan briefly describes the behavior in _Dinosaurs, Spitfires and
Sea Dragons_, and he cites:

Pooley, A.C. and Gans, C. (1976). "The Nile Crocodile", _Scientific
   American_, 234:114-124.

Since it was published in SciAm that far back, I suspect that the
original work was more formally presented in the early 70's or maybe
even late 60's.  If you dig up the above article, I suspect it will
have references in the "Additional Reading" box.  McGowan additionally
writes about cooperation in the dismembering of large prey items.
Two crocodiles will sometimes each grab a piece of an animal and then
rotate their bodies in opposite directions around their bodies' long
axes in order to break the corpse into pieces small enough to swallow.

-- 
Mickey Rowe     (rowe@lepomis.psych.upenn.edu)