The famous Croc show at Australia Zoo ft. Robert Irwin and Scrappa

Out in the wild, crocodiles use the murkiness of the water to camouflage from their prey. Right now, we're going to reveal to you the true art of the croc, and here is Crocodile Week! Welcome to Australia Zoo. How are we feeling today? Are we good? Who loves crocodiles? Come on, let's see, let's see. Where are you at? Yes! Well, today we have got an absolute legend in our midst. And I'm not talking about Nathan. Nathan is a legend, but I'm talking about the big dog on his way out here. Scrapper. This guy is something else. Scrapper is fast. He is just speed, speed, speed. He is a live wire. And today, he is going to help to show us all how to stay safe in croc territory. I want to show you what to do and what not to do if you're up in northern Australia where you find crocs. The biggest thing is this. The closer to the water that you get, the more danger you put yourself in. Because crocs are ambush predators. They're not a cheetah or a lion. They're not built to run you down on land. They have that big, long tail so that they can propel themselves through the water very, very fast. Now, watch this. When he feels vibrations, see, that's what gets him interested. Footsteps next to the water's edge. If this was the deep, dark, murky water that you find in northern Australia, you'd never, ever see him coming. Now, he lines up. He gets himself in the perfect spot. And when he decides, he'll go for the strike. Oh, he's kicking it, mate. Here you go, Scrappy. Whoa, look at the food, mate. Here you go, mate. Nice. Give it up for Scrapper Hayes, New York. Go back in your water. Now, you see, he's very reactive. He's a very, very keen crocodile. But once you're out of the way of that strike, that first immediate strike, the element of danger decreases. But when you're in the water or near the water's edge, right here, this is the crocodile's strike zone. This is where they're fast. And you can instantly see just how reactive he is to every little movement. Get out of his face. Get out of his way. He's a completely different animal. Now, you've seen how fast he is there. Next up, we're going to up the ante. Let's go to a spot where there's even more limited room. This is really dangerous. So Nathan, you do it. Me? Let's get you. Scrapper over here. You've seen that strike from the water's edge. It's absolutely incredible. We're going to try and show you another one. Now, obviously, from the tip of his nose, the base of his tail, that is where he can strike the fastest. But out on land, big, slow, and heavy. So, obviously, not a lot of room to work over here. If I go quiet, he's probably going to be very nervous. I don't know how many times you've seen these crocodiles and it makes you very, very nervous. Come on, Scrapper. Come on, big boy. You can see that initial strike range. He's very unwilling to even come out because he knows, I can see, he knows that he's up. He has no chance of actually catching me. Unless, of course, I slip over. And that's not going to happen today. Showing me those teeth. Showing that he means business. Obviously, it makes you very nervous because of the 64 bullet-shaped teeth. But it's not just the teeth. It's the jaw pressure. That little cock you just heard. Yeah, give him a round of applause for that. Took him up to three and a half thousand pounds per square inch. Closing jaw pressure. That's like squeezing a paper cup in your hand. If he could shoot out gravity with his body, I'd squirt out of you there like a tube of toothpaste. He's making his way down. If anybody goes through just knee-deep water here in the creek section in a minute, not a ripple or a bubble, those lumps and bumps on his back create currents and counter-currents that cancel each other out and allow him to move through the water unsuspected and undetected, even in that shallow water there. And if he does pop up, you'll probably only just see, like we did just before, his eyes, his nose just at the front, of course, his ears, which are behind his eyes. That's all three points he can see here and smell what's going on. That's all he needs to be able to determine what's going on. If that was deep, dark, murky water out in the middle of the river, you'd have no idea that was a crocodile. You'd think it was probably a log floating down the river, if you could even spot it. And so he can see what's going on. He can also hold his breath for over seven hours. Very, very easy. The longest breath hold in every animal on the planet. And I'm going to show you another way that these guys strike. We've seen the hook spot. We're going to show you the vertical one. It's what we call the tail walk. Now, this isn't something we've had to teach our crocodiles. It's a natural ability that they're born with. He keeps looking at you guys in the front row. He's just checking you out. Mate, don't stalk people in the front row. How many times have you talked to this scrapper? So, yeah, this is the hook walk method. From the moment they're born, 15, 20, 17, 18, 12, they'll use this technique to catch insects, frogs, and lizards. And then as they get up to scrapper size and even bigger, they'll be hunting birds, bats, even ones flying across the water. Snakes, goannas, couscous, possums, anything. They'll actually tail walk up using this method. And it's very effective. He can get all the way up to this top rail here if he wanted to on a good day, over half his body length, up and out of the water. What we're looking for is for him to angle that head up, looking straight up to line up the shot, feet firmly planted on the floor, big kink in that tail, and with one swish of that tail, just like that, straight up out of the water. Isn't that amazing? Of course. Now, we like to show you this because up in northern Australia, these like male lugatrees that overhang the water, they might look like a great place to read a book or have a fish, but people have been taken by these tail walking methods before. So we like to give you a better understanding of their natural abilities that they have to help keep you guys safe up in northern Australia. Nice. How could that? Scrapper's such a little legend. We just love him. Now, I want to show you kind of really case in point where you're safe around crocs, where you're not. Crocodiles are branded as these evil monsters running around eating everyone. That's not the case. See how he's very interested there on that tail walk? And when he sees a bit of movement here next to the water's edge, you'll watch his attention start to change. Hey, big boy. Crocodiles don't like anything messing around in their water. Even though he's very interested in the tail walk, as soon as he sees me next to the water's edge, that's what really piques his interest. A crocodile is fast at the water's edge. Very fast. And our job is simple. To stay safe around crocs, just avoid the water's edge. Hey. There's that initial strike that he'll do. But once he's out of the water, once he's out on land, he's a lot slower, and he's a lot more loathe to come out and to give it a really good go. He's just sitting there with his mouth open. And this isn't really about food. This is more so about territory. He's just saying, hey, you've got to get out of my house. A crocodile does not like anything being in and around its territory. Here you go, mate. And some sushi. Good boy. Now that he's out on land, and only now can I happily just sit down right in front of him, and I know he's not going to try and get me, only because we're both on land. Put my money where my mouth is here, and I can lay down. Go this way a little bit. And watch what he does. See that? He does nothing. Absolutely nothing. I still don't trust him. But all he wants to do is get back into the water. He's looking at me thinking, oh, this guy. What's he doing? Whatever. It's just not worth his effort. Because he is an aquatic predator. But you watch the difference. If I get down closer to his water, his territory, you see instantly when he changes. He completely changes. He switches on. He becomes this ambush predator once again. And all of a sudden, this becomes a really dangerous situation. So for us, for human beings, it's okay. It's okay. All we need to do is stay out of his strike range. What that translates to? Five metres. Five big steps back from the water's edge. Somewhere around here, and you're going to be no worries at all. A crocodile is not going to have a go at you if you're away from the water's edge. We stress this for human safety. We also stress this for the protection of crocodiles. Every time someone breaks the rules, they get a little bit too close. They decide, I'm going to get out for a fish. I'm going to go for a swim. This water looks pretty safe. No crocs in there. I might go for a dip. When something like this happens again and again, I guarantee it happens many times every day in North Queensland, eventually, unfortunately, an altercation will occur. And when that happens, crocodiles are usually killed out in big numbers. They're culled, they're removed, and they're branded as this really, really bad, bad, bad guy. And that is just not the case. This is a beautiful animal. The ruler of the Norland waterways. A keystone species, and an animal that was almost hunted to extinction. If we want to have the incredible, beautiful, biodiverse waterways that we have in Australia, we have to keep the crocodiles. It is so vitally important that we do that. And all we need to do to keep us safe and keep crocs in healthy numbers is just co-exist with them. Don't go swimming. Don't do this. Don't get down next to the water's edge. Basically do the opposite of everything I've done today, and you'll be just fine in croc territory. And we can make sure that this, the apex predator, is alive and thriving out in the wild. It is such a special thing for me, and for the whole team at Australia Zoo, to continue an important legacy. It's a legacy that was started by one bloke, way, way, way, way, way, way back in the day. It's the bloke who happens to be up there on the big screen right now. Always my greatest inspiration. And the one person that I really hope to do great at, that is of course my dad. Thank you very much for keeping his mission alive. I couldn't do it without you. Enjoy the rest of your day. Please give a big round of applause for Scrapper. And let's keep Dad's wishing alive. See you later. My dad taught me from a very early age. Be at one with the snake. Feel it. That's one. And I am.