Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Empty Crocodile Mouth

Here is an empty crocodile mouth about to chomp on some food.  The worldwide Daily Photo Theme for July 1 is "empty," so I thought this would be a Costa Rican version of that theme.

I took this photo while on a wildlife boat cruise in Palo Verde National Park.  We saw probably 40 or 50 crocodiles in the wild on that trip, which took about 90 minutes or so.  At one point, the boat operator stopped and held out some chicken parts to feed one of the crocodiles.   

I did not use a telephoto for this photo.  In fact, I had the opposite problem.  In some of my photos the crocodile jumped up right out of the frame where my camera was pointing.  We were safely within a boat that was large enough for about 20 people, but we could have reached out and touched the crocodile if we had been so foolish. 

Needless to say, the river where this photo was taken is in a different area than the river where we were doing the river tubing trip.

Tomorrow I will show the runner up of a photo that I considered for the theme of "empty."  It is completely different.

"Click here to view thumbnails for all participants" in the City Daily Photo Theme Day.

23 comments:

Ursel said...

Great shot! Crocodiles are way cool, but I'm not sure if I ever want to be that close to one.

Jilly said...

Glad to see it WAS empty. Super shot and great choice for today.

Julie said...

Not certain that I could cope being quite that close. And the concept no longer empty springs to mind. You are full of adventure, Dave.

Stefan Jansson said...

Wow, That's too close for me. But a great shot of the crocodile none the less.

Small City Scenes said...

Empty snapping jaws. Too close for me. MB

brattcat said...

Well, it's not quite empty. There's a small chunk of meat that has already arrived at the base of his tongue. But what clean teeth he has. You were way too close in my opinion if a dental evaluation could be done from the photograph!

Unknown said...

Wow! This one is great! Really cool for the theme day!

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

wow, this is an amazing shot.

Lowell said...

Omigod! I find alligators generally somnolent and not much of a threat if your out of the water and keep your distance...

But crocs are something else. I've seen photos of them charging up out of an African river to grab a huge animal or human!

We have few crocs here...we did a salt-water croc swimming just offshore at Sanibel Island one time.

Don't like crocs. Just looking at your photo gives me the willies!

Yikes!

Judy said...

I hope it was a big boat, Dave. That guy looks like he could tip a small one over and then take his pick.

nathalie in avignon said...

Empty ? Not for long!!!

I saw pretty much the same scene in Australia near Darwin, where they run croc cruises. Isn't it impressive?

An unusual interpretation for today's theme, well done!

That is the chicken said...

Woah! Scary empty photo! Great action shot though. I have once been that close to a croc...on a pathway and was freaked by how fast those things move!

crocrodyl said...

Amazing capture!

Clueless in Boston said...

I'm glad to live where I live and not have to worry about crocs in the rivers:) Great shot.

Kim said...

That is brilliant! I love your shot and am glad it wasn't your camera or arm that filled the void for the wee beastie!
-Kim

cieldequimper said...

Excellent! I've got goose bumps!

Tash said...

perfect! it's the closest I've ever seen a croc with almost empty mouth.

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Great shot! Scarily close.

glenda said...

Great idea for empty. Glad to see there were no fingers in side that mouth.

Kate said...

Well, no empty stomach for this one; they certainly are aggressive, aren't they?!

Carraol said...

This shot is a spectacular interpretation of this theme, that croc looks hungry.

Greg said...

Just as long as none of us ends up filling that open mouth!

Sally said...

Oooh! Crocodiles give me the willies, big time!
Sydney Daily Photo

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