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INDIAN EXPRESS (New Delhi, India) 12 January 06 In the snap of a jaw - That languid look is so deceptive (George N. Netto)
The meagre entry fee, at one rupee per person, belies its importance. But the unpretentious Crocodile Breeding Centre near Udumalpet in Tamil Nadu is doing yeoman conservation work, breeding the endangered Estuarine Crocodile.
Tucked away in a shaded glade, a faintly fetid odour greeted me before I saw the sluggish amphibians languidly sunning themselves. A few had their fearsome jaws bared menacingly as if they expected a morsel to drop into their cavernous gullets. Others had jaws clamped together tight, their long white incisors protruding on the sides. But all had their eyes fixed in a chilling gaze: they appeared to be wistfully eyeing the visitors! Now and then one slid lazily into a pool in the enclosure to cool off, only the tip of its snout visible above the murky water.
In a separate enclosure a few foot-long hatchlings regarded me through heavy-lidded eyes. It was hard to believe that these innocuous-looking creatures would soon become vicious killers capable of severing a man in half with a mere snap of their jaws.
In an adjacent bigger enclosure were the full-grown adults. Measuring over seven feet in length, I learnt they could floor a man with just a flick of their powerful, serrated tails. Their lethargic appearance is merely a facade to fool their prey: for they can move swiftly in water as well as on land. And they are aggressive and unpredictable to boot.
Incidentally, before the establishment of the CBC, a few crocs had been released in the nearby Amaravathy dam in the 1970s to facilitate breeding. But they turned out to be a grave threat to humans as well as livestock and the experiment had to be abandoned. One or two are still believed to lurk in the reservoir.
Suddenly there was a commotion. An attendant had caught a young man red-handed, prodding a croc with a stick. But, egged on by his companions, the offender brashly shrugged off the rebuke. As he swaggered out I saw him defiantly hurl a stone at a croc. The amphibians, apparently, are not the only thick-skinned creatures.
In the snap of a jaw - That languid look is so deceptive

ah! i see another example of thought-provoking and well-researched journalism! these crocs are referred to as 'amphibians,' not once but twice, in the same one whole paragraph story.