Humboldt Remarks, That In South
America The Alligators Of Some Rivers Are More Dangerous Than In
Others.
Alligators differ from crocodiles in the fourth or canine
tooth going into a hole or socket in the upper jaw, while in the
crocodile it fits into a notch.
The forefoot of the crocodile has
five toes not webbed, the hindfoot has four toes which are webbed; in
the alligator the web is altogether wanting. They are so much alike
that they would no doubt breed together.
One of the crocodiles which was shot had a piece snapped off the end
of his tail, another had lost a forefoot in fighting; we saw actual
leeches between the teeth, such as are mentioned by Herodotus, but we
never witnessed the plover picking them out. Their greater
fierceness in one part of the country than another is doubtless owing
to a scarcity of fish; in fact, Captain Tuckey says, of that part of
the Congo, mentioned above, "There are no fish here but catfish," and
we found that the lake crocodiles, living in clear water, and with
plenty of fish, scarcely ever attacked man. The Shire teems with
fish of many different kinds. The only time, as already remarked,
when its crocodiles are particularly to be dreaded, is when the river
is in flood. Then the fish are driven from their usual haunts, and
no game comes down to the river to drink, water being abundant in
pools inland. Hunger now impels the crocodile to lie in wait for the
women who come to draw water, and on the Zambesi numbers are carried
off every year.
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