Worldwide croc attack database launches

A new global database charting crocodile attacks should help protect both the hunter and the hunted: but which is which?

Crocodile conservation has come back to bite itself, researchers say.

CrocBITE, a worldwide crocodilian attack database, was launched at Charles Darwin University in Darwin on Tuesday in the hope that compiling information about croc attacks worldwide might help with future conservation efforts of the species.

Crocodiles became a protected species in 1971 in the Northern Territory, which has seen numbers flourish, increasing the risk to humans.

"This (interaction) is increasing each year as crocodile populations recover from decades of overhunting, and human populations continue to grow and encroach upon crocodile habitat," said senior research associate Dr Adam Britton.

"The aim of building the database is by no means to vilify crocs, but to better analyse crocodile and human conflict."

The database will look at trends of attacks, compiling all reported attacks by any crocodile species on a human in order to better understand risk factors leading to such attacks.

This will ultimately help to improve human safety and crocodilian conservation, Dr Britton said.

The team already has more than 2000 on file since 2011 after trawling through decades of archives and news stories, which will also serve as an educational resource with interactive maps, species descriptions and distributions, and public safety information.

For more information, contact the CrocBITE team at www.crocodile-attack.info