Perhaps the world’s most famous reptile, Elvis the Crocodile, celebrated his 59th birthday early in the new year by chomping down on a quarter of a cow.
The 4.75 metre, 500kg beast shot out of the water, grabbed onto the massive carcass, and performed his world-famous “death-roll” to claim his prize.
Elvis gained world-wide attention in 2011 when he ate his keeper’s lawnmower, earning him the title of “Australia’s Crankiest Crocodile”.
Since then, many videos of the croc have gone viral, including one of him destroying a pool pump in his enclosure being used for cleaning.
On his birthday, Elvis engaged in an epic tug-of-war with four of the Reptile Park’s keepers.
Once he had grabbed the meat, he performed multiple gigantic death-rolls, effortlessly tearing off a massive 30kg chunk of meat from the cow carcass.
He then began fiercely thrashing his head around to tear apart the meat.
Park Manager Billy Collett said Elvis was absolutely fired up.
“Once he grabbed onto that meat there was no letting go,” Collett said.
“Then the death-rolling started, taking the show to a whole new level.”
“Giving him this type of food provides excellent enrichment for him.
“In the wild, he would easily take down a prey item this large, so giving him this treat allows him to mimic natural behaviours he’d utilise in the wild.”
Elvis came to the Australian Reptile Park in 2011 from the Northern Territory where he was causing havoc to fishermen’s boats in Darwin Harbour.
He has a reputation for keeping staff on their toes, so the process of giving him such a large food item needs to be cautiously thought out.
Visitors to the Australian Reptile Park can see the Elvis Show at 1.30pm every day during the Summer school holidays.
Saltwater crocodiles were once hunted to the brink of extinction in Australia but following their status to be legally protected in QLD, NT and WA, their numbers have made a full recovery, and they are now listed as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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