Crocodile Couple Works Hard for 40 Years to Have Babies, Still No Offspring; Expert: Male Crocodile is Too Small
As a carnivorous oviparous reptile, crocodiles are the oldest surviving reptiles, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs, approximately 200 million years ago, and one of the most primitive animals still alive today.
Currently, there are 3 families and 8 species and 23 kinds of crocodiles living in the world, mostly distributed in Africa, Central America and Southern Asia, and only Chinese alligator and Mississippi crocodile are distributed in temperate regions.
Crocodiles have formidable combat strength. The bite force of the Cayman crocodile is 4200 pounds, which is the number one in the animal bite force ranking. With its unyielding scales and sharp teeth, it is almost invincible in the swamps. However, a fierce crocodile recently suffered the biggest 'shame' of its life.
There is a pair of Cayman crocodiles living in Poznan Zoo in Poland. The male crocodile is named Hektor, and the female crocodile is named Luiza. Since 1973, this pair of crocodiles has lived in the zoo, which can be described as a love story.
Shortly after being brought in, this pair of crocodiles lived a shamelessly loving life. Every time the two crocodiles reached their mating season, Hekto would conduct courtship and mating activities. The courtship behavior includes jumping out of the water, showing off their tails, and gently biting and rubbing their necks.
Every year, this couple insists on carrying out the 'crocodile breeding plan', but this plan has been going on for 40 years, and they haven't produced crocodile babies. Let alone expecting grandchildren.
Hektor
Crocodiles have a relatively high pregnancy rate and lay many eggs. Each time they can lay 20-90 eggs. Their eggs are white, and they are easily hatched in strong sunlight. Cayman crocodiles' egg-laying amount is not the most in the population, but each litter can produce 14-40 eggs, with an average of 29 eggs.
Why did they work so hard for 40 years and still didn't produce little crocodile babies? Moreover, Hektor worked very hard every time he tried to produce crocodile babies, and he also used his roar to cheer himself up. Thousands of visitors could hear his roar...,
Zoo staff checked the two crocodiles many times, and they were all very healthy. So why couldn't they produce crocodile babies?
Later, a German scientist came to examine Hektor, and he found thatHektor's is a little too small...
Crocodiles complete their mating in the water. The male crocodile's reproductive system is located in the lower abdomen.
Crocodiles are primitive animals, their appearance can be traced back to the Triassic and Jurassic periods, about 200 million years ago. Strangely, this animal hasn't left much impression in 200 million years. From the beginning of its formation to today, its appearance has not changed much.
Therefore, they still have a cloaca body structure, while higher mammals, including humans, have spent hundreds of millions of years trying to separate the reproductive system, urinary system and digestive system.
This is the benefit of letting the uterus belong to the reproductive system, and the urethra is connected to the bladder belongs to the excretion system, avoiding bacterial infections in the reproductive system.
The main way to determine the gender of a crocodile is to insert your hand into its cloaca to see its reproductive system, but the staff couldn't find any problem with the male crocodile's cloaca.
Hektor became a headline, attracting the attention of the public.
The zoo staff recently said:
If we had known it was because of this reason, we could have done artificial insemination for these two crocodiles. Maybe we would have had crocodile babies now.
But now Hektor and Luiza are old and not suitable for artificial insemination, they can only be 'infertility'.
However, it's hard to know what Hektor's feelings are. Of course, I admire Luiza, she always cooperates with Hektor.
