TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It’s unlikely this Florida crocodile caught a cold, but its unusual behavior did raise some questions and concerns.
Wildlife photographer Kymberly Clark was recently enjoying her time at the Everglades National Park in Florida when she came across a “coughing” croc.
Whipping out her phone from the safety of her car, Clark captured a video of the cold-blooded creature and posted it to Instagram. She joked, the crocodile either “didn’t want her photo taken by paparazzi” or was “coughing up a hairball!”
“American crocodiles are typically quite docile but I suspect this one is a female with a nest or was warning me she had babies close by,” Clark said.
According to the University of Georgia, American crocodiles use a wide variety of sounds for effective short-distance communication. These include hisses, coughs, grunts, moos, and toots.
Male American crocodiles can reach 20 feet in length but rarely exceed 14 feet in the wild, according to the National Park Service. Crocodiles are known to eat just about anything that moves. Adults feed mostly at night on fish, crabs, turtles, snakes, and small mammals.
