Crocodile

I was told that the tail of a crocodile is a dangerous thing. Very, very dangerous is the tail of a crocodile. This animal swims with its tail and the strength of the tail is terrific. On land the defence of the crocodile is its tail not its mouth. On land the crocodile is slow, it cannot fight, it only sweeps the tail with ferocious rapidity killing the animals in fight with it. The majority of the African rivers have low banks and, day or night, we can see crocodiles wandering on the shores of the rivers, lakes and pools. They do that because they seek for food, carcases of dead animals, fish imprisoned in pools, new waters and new rivers. The crocodile hunts in the water but, many times when the waters are low, the rains race dry and dusty, the crocodile hunts on land, it lays an ambush in the shores, hidden in the vegetation, many hours motionless near a path to drinking water. It waits, it waits and when an animal, a buffalo for instance, nears the spot of the ambush the crocodile throws its tail with all its might and the buffalo has its four legs broken. The buffalo is dead and the crocodile has its food.

Very, very dangerous is the tail of the crocodile.