Gator Weather Preditions - Australian Press Item

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: AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION 29 October 99 Croc breeding season may herald wet season : Cairns: A former crocodile farm manager says the start of the crocodile breeding season could mean the annual wet season is just around the corner. : The breeding season has begun two weeks early, with the Hartley's Creek Farm, north of Cairns, congratulating its first mother this week. : Gary Zillfeisch says he believes crocodile nesting is a virtual gurarantee of continuing rain. : He says crocs need fresh rain water to keep their nests wet and they choose the time for their breeding carefully. "For all the millions of years that they've been hanging around, they've established an ability to predict the onset of the long-term moist and continuous wetting of the nest," he said. : "It's a definate sign of a long period of rain." : Mr Zillfeisch says when he worked at the park, he always heard stories about the peculiar link between crocodiles and the wet season from locals and Aborigines. : But he says it was not until he tried to film a crocodile laying eggs that he saw the theory in action. : "It was the first time in the history of Australia we were going to get the egg being laid on film and right as she started, because the nest was built about three weeks before in anticipation, and then as the female right at the moment she was laying her eggs, down would come the rain and on two occasions that actually happened and it spoilt the film so crocodiles certainly know what's going on."

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