RIC-6277 I can dance the Barramundi

CROCODILE
Preparation
• Collect pictures of saltwater crocodiles.
Presentation
• Share and discuss the pictures with the
class.
• Say the rhyme with the actions for the class.
Additional activities/information
• Share the following information with the
class.
THE SALTWATER CROCODILE
• A reptile is a crawling animal. Snakes, lizards,
crocodiles, turtles and tortoises are reptiles. An
amphibian reptile is a reptile that lives on land
and in water. Saltwater crocodiles are the largest
amphibian reptiles on our planet.
• A large saltwater crocodile can weigh about 600
kilograms and grow to about 5 metres long.
• Reptiles need to warm their blood to live and hunt.
In the north of Australia, saltwater crocodiles are
often seen basking in the sun on the banks of rivers
and billabongs.
• At nesting time a female crocodile collects grasses
and water reeds, leaves and sticks and prepares
a nest shaped like a mound. She chooses a quiet
sandy place on the bank of a river. The nest must
be high enough to be safe from fl ooding waters.
She makes a hole in the nest and lays her eggs.
She will lay about forty or so eggs. She then covers
the eggs carefully with the grasses and reeds and
guards them from such predators as goannas and
snakes.
• Inside the nest, the reeds and grasses and leaves
begin to decay and the nest grows warmer. The
warmth incubates the eggs. About 12 weeks later,
the mother crocodile hears faint grunts and yelps
from inside the nest. The eggs are beginning to
hatch.
• The class claps the beat while saying the
rhyme.
• The class says the rhyme with the actions.
• The mother crocodile opens the nest and very
gently lifts the hatchlings in her huge jaws and
carries them to a quiet pool. There she can protect
them from predators. In this haven, the hatchlings
hunt for tadpoles, insects and shrimps.
• For some weeks the baby crocodiles keep together
by calling to their mother and to each other. When
their mother leaves them they become vulnerable
and most perish.
• As a young crocodile grows, it hunts turtles and
waterbirds. Later it hunts feral animals, cattle,
kangaroos and horses as they drink at the water’s
edge. Silent unseen hunters, crocodiles patrol the
waterways, watching and waiting, only their eyes
and nostrils above the water.
• When a crocodile has selected its prey, it swims
closer and closer then lunges, vaulting from the
water, its powerful back legs and feet levering the
huge body upwards. It seizes its prey in its strong
jaws, rolls it in the water until it drowns and then
devours it.
©R.I.C. Publications
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• Have students who have seen crocodiles in
zoos, wildlife parks and crocodile farms talk
about their experiences.
I can dance the barramundi
70 R.I.C. Publications ® www.ricgroup.com.au
ISBN 978-1-74126-424-1