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Oct. 3 (UPI) — The owner of an Australian crocodile farm revealed that mating season began early this year due to the presence of military helicopters, which aroused the males’ amorous mood.
John Lever, who established the Koorana Crocodile Farm in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1981, reported that the bulls among his 3,000 crocodiles were sent into a mating frenzy when a low-flying Chinook helicopter passed over the farm.
Lever mentioned that helicopters are frequently spotted in the area due to bilateral military training operations conducted by the Singapore Armed Forces in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, and the pilots often use the crocodile farm as a marker point.
According to Lever, one particular helicopter flew low to observe the animals, resulting in a surge of reptile romance.
“All of the big males got up and roared and bellowed up at the sky, and after the helicopters left, they mated like mad,” said Lever in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “There’s something about the sonic waves that really gets them stirred up.”
Cameron Baker, a crocodile specialist and researcher at Charles Darwin University, speculated that the crocodiles may have mistaken the sound of the helicopter for the call of a competing male.
“It might be producing a very low-frequency ‘thump, thump’ as it hits the water,” said Baker. “That may just coincidentally be similar to some of the sounds big male crocodiles produce to say, ‘Hey, this is my turf.’ We’re still not sure how they use the sound and what it communicates.”
Craig Franklin, a zoology professor at the University of Queensland, suggested that the low altitude of the helicopter may have caused the crocodiles to sense a change in barometric pressure similar to a thunderstorm, which often signals the start of their mating season.
“Alternatively, it could be the low-frequency noise created by helicopters,” Franklin added. “We don’t know what happens on farms, but our research shows that in the field, they respond to rainfall events… and of course, they’re often associated with a change in barometric pressure.”
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