How to cuddle a crocodile: Sacred reptiles from the lake, where local children swim without fear

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Hollywood cinema portrays crocodiles as one of the most dangerous animals in the world, next to which there is no chance of staying alive, especially if there is more than one of these reptiles. However, residents of Burkina Faso strongly disagree with this approach. In one of the local settlements there is a pond in which small children swim, not embarrassed by crocodiles swimming past them, and the inhabitants of the settlement often draw water from this very pond under the gaze of crocodiles to cook their own food.

Burkina Faso is located in western Africa and is landlocked. And just in one of the water sources - just 30 kilometers from Ouagadougou, the capital of the country, the very crocodiles who have learned to coexist peacefully with people live. Moreover - the tradition of this peaceful neighborhood has been going on for several decades - and even the oldest generation now no longer remembers that local crocodiles pose any danger to anyone.

It is strange to see how children swim in the same pond, women are standing nearby washing clothes on the shore, and a little further away women are collecting water for food - and all this is under the supervision of crocodiles lying imposingly on the shore. Here in Burkina Faso these predators are not at all afraid. If tourists come, and they have recently begun to appear more and more, then residents can call the crocodiles closer, offering them chicken.

Interestingly, the crocodiles in Bazul (this is the name of the settlement in which this pond is located) are relatives of the Nile crocodiles, which are considered one of the most aggressive and largest in the world. However, over the millennia, crocodiles from Burkina Faso have adapted to the local climatic conditions - few thickets, almost no forest, desert hot dry climate - and have become a separate species: Crocodylus suchus.

To adapt to the desert climate, the crocodiles in Bazul have learned to hibernate at a time when the water is draining from the local waters. Perhaps this is what caused the decrease in their level of aggressiveness. On the contrary, people try to protect crocodiles, protect them and not give anyone offense. Local beliefs are even based on the sacredness of these animals: according to legends, crocodiles once descended from heaven along with the rains, and if the crocodiles disappear one day, the rains will also disappear.

Still, don't expect this kind of friendliness from other predators. Interestingly, unlike cinematography, there are double standards in the world of modern animated films - in cartoons, dangerous animals are often portrayed as stupid or even cute. So, the artist Alex Solis decided to demonstrate this dissonance in a series of his works, which we published in our article. "Mimic predators and their touching prey."