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Difficult to say without a pic. Deformities are normally a result of injury.

Being part of a croc family is a risky buisness

Genetically it does not seem to pose a problem at this stage although our croc poppulations are living in isolated pockets due to our doing..

Hmmm... Yes of course.. I wish I could find the picture.

I'm still not sure it was a deformity/injury though, as it seemed to be a very well "formed" nob on his head. One way I can explain its appearance... You know on some Colt bakkies? They have that "breathing hole" on the bonnet for the inter-cooler what-you-call-it.. Anyways... It's shape was a lot like that.

Hi Gwendolen and others.A somewhat misleading statement. Crocodiles are like most reptiles poikilothermic. In other words they rely on external factors, like the sun, to heat their bodies to the desired temperature. Once they reach their desired temperature they thermoregulate, moving into and out of water or into shade to maintain the desired temperature. That is where it stops. They do not tap energy from the sun that will enable them to survive with the minimum intake of food. They can and do consume huge meals and in summertime eat regularly. They, like all reptiles eat less frequent in the colder months of our winters and may in this time go without food for lengthy periods. If they did not have ample food intake during the summer they may die during winter, because they do not have the reserves to see them through winter. This may explain why one will sometimes see photo's of impala etc. in close proximity of crocodiles. It may also explain why they have not eaten on the hippopotamus. In cold weather the cannot digest food. I recall seeing a vast number of crocodiles feeding on a hippopotamus years ago at night at Impala Ranch, close to KNP. This was in December. Mid summer in South Africa. Regards, Agama

Once I saw this one.

Aha! I found the picture!!

He was in the water by the Lower Sabie bridge.

Thats a perfectly normal crocodile. They develop these "knobs" and it gets more pronounced with age. The black "hole" is just a shadow. (See the shadows of the scales on his neck.)

Not Croc-specific, but interesting (I think):

Alligators can stealthily maneuver through the water leaving nary a ripple, despite having neither fins nor flippers like other adept swimmers. Instead, they use special muscles to shift the position of their lungs.

[scientists] said American alligators use their diaphragm, pelvic, abdominal and rib muscles to change their center of buoyancy, forcing the lungs toward the tail when they dive, toward the head when they surface, and sideways to roll.

The full article at Reuters.

That is someting that all of the croc family do not have!!!

"... crocodiles have both a septate lung and a diaphragm—an organ not found in snakes, lizards, or birds. But the crocodile diaphragm is also somewhat different from that in mammals. It is not muscular but is attached to the liver and movement of this liver/diaphragm acts like a piston to inflate the lungs, with muscles attaching to the pelvis. (The mammalian [including human] diaphragm pulls the liver in the same way a crocodilian one does, creating a visceral piston, but the way this is accomplished differs in crocodiles and mammals..." I Googled crocodile diaphragm and amongst others this came up. The scaly skin hides a lot of secrets!

I know agama but it does fuction differently an also looks very different although called a 'diaphragm' by some. It is very different as you pointed out yourself and it should't be called a diaphragm as it is not a muscular partition.... The liver actually pull on this 'diaphragm' and not the other way around...
To breathe in, a croc has to move its liver and other organs backwards

here's an unusual way of posing... Biyamithi Weir.

Laine, You captured the business end of this crocodile beautifully! Well spotted!:thumbs_up: Agama

Lion Buffalo and croc !!!!!! what a sight

This is one of those photos that float around the internet from time to time. Does anybody have any idea where it came from?

Wow!

Sorry, no idea...