TREE-CLIMBING BABY CROCS

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

OK OK, so the thread died a death weeks ago. I know. There is just 
one more thing I wanted to say that I never had time to say 
beforehand.

This is that, whether crocs climb trees or not (and, anecdotes 
aside, it appears they do not), people should not point toward 
monitor lizards as possible croc analogues. Unlike crocs, including 
baby ones, many monitors are well equipped to climb trees, what with 
their set of 20 sharply curved claws, elongate digits including a 
strongly divergent pedal digit 5, and very flexible tails. As such a 
bauplan is primitive for monitors, it has been easy for them to 
evolve arboreality on several occasions. Many varanid species are 
therefore fully arboreal (_V. rudicollis_, _V. prasinus_, _V. 
teriae_, _V. bogerti_, _V. telenesetes_ etc etc etc) or close to it, 
while the juveniles of many terrestrial species (such as _V. 
komodoensis_) exhibit strong arboreal tendencies. Extant crocs do not 
exhibit the features utilised by monitors in their arboreal exploits, 
so the two groups are not comparable. I hope that sorts it out.

"Darwin's bulldog was kicked as a puppy"

DARREN NAISH
darren.naish@port.ac.uk