Mr. Odong P'Duny:
I found your note very interesting, and here is why.
As you may have seen from the urls I posted in my last note, there are only 23 extant 'crocodilian' species. They are divided into 3 families: Alligatoridae, Crocodylidae and Gavialidae.
All the 8 species in the Alligatoridae family are confined to SE USA, E. China, Central & S. America. That is none have ever been recorded in Africa.
Your claim that about an Acholi gator would be of enormous interest to the scientific community, if it turned out to be correct. You can help us get to the bottom of this by first telling us what the the local name(s) of this creature is (are), and what name(s) you have for the 'regular' crocodile. And then give as full a description of the 'gator' as posible, especially the appearance of its head. Better yet, if you know of any reference(s) about this, I'd be most interested to peruse it.
At this time my conjecture is that you are mistaking an immature 'regular' croc (i.e. Nile crocodile) for a gator.
Another conjecture is that perhaps we might be dealing with another species, but even this is improbable, given what is known about the ecology of these beasties. Anyway, here goes:
"Real" crocodiles belong to the family crocodylidae. This one has 14 species, 3 of which call Africa home: the 'regular' croc (Crocodylus niloticus) or Nile croc, the Slender mouthed croc (C. cataphractus) and the so called African dwarf croc (Osteolaemus tetraspis).
The Nile croc, the adult of which averages 5m (ca 15 feet) in length, is the most cosmopolitan of African crocs, and is the only one to have left the continent -- being found on the western coast of the island of Madagascar.
There is considerable overlap in the distribution of the Slender mouthed and the African dwarf crocs. But both are essentially Western African beasts. Their easternmost range is the DRC, but does not include even the tip of Uganda. In fact, the Eastern range of the Dwarf (Osteolaemus = ='bony throat') does not even approach the Ugandan border. Yet it is this dwarf comes closest to your description of the Acholi gator growing upto 1.5m.
I have got some pics of the dwarf croc somewhere and an interesting (Nile) croc and its survival ability/instinct from croc hunters in the early 1900's that I'll relate at another date. But if you cann't wait for the story, consult some of the earlier issues of the the Uganda Journal.
In the meantime, check this out:
what is a croc?
http://exn.ca/Stories/2001/08/20/52.asp
Ssemakula
ps: I think we ought move this thread over to Ugandanet.
----Original Message Follows----
From: odong Robert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [FedsNet] Engalabi (was:I'm Not Personal Property, says Bidandi)
Date: Sat, 24 May 2003 19:52:10 -0700 (PDT)
Adwong Semakula,
Im certainly not 'mufti' on this 'animal planet' issues. But your assertion that aligators are not found in Africa needs more clarification.
To the best on my knowledge, in Acholi we have this 1-1.5m long reptile that crawls near streams, wells and springs. At first glance you would think it is a young crocodile.
I have grown up calling these reptiles alligators. Perhaps that was a misnomer. I do not know the American cousin of the aligator, but I guess they are much bigger, if I remember well the recent documentary on reptiles.
Adwong Semakula, what would you call these African cousins?
Thanks,
Odong P'Duny
J Ssemakula <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
A minor quibble. To the best of my knowledge, alligators are not known in Africa. However, their cousins, the crocodiles are, and they can grow to enormous sizes. Recently a six (6) foot long head was unearthed in the neighborhood of Chad.
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