Personally, I have a default fear of crocodiles since I was little. But the phobia started to become clearer when I dreamt nightmares of it multiple times in a short period. But anyways, I decided to share some knowledge about crocodiles and thinking about it... Gustave is the best thing to start with.
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| en.wikipedia.org |
Gustave was a male crocodile of the species Nile Crocodile (crocodylus niloticus) and is estimated to be around 60 years old. Gustave is notorious for killing up to 300 people from the banks of Ruzizi River and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika (Burundi, Central Africa).
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| psicinvest.com |
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| www.globalgreatlakes.org |
Of course, 300 victims doesn't seem like a high value but for an individual crocodile doing all the man-eating by himself; it is a large number. Because Gustave has never been captured, there is no specific or official measurements of him but it was said to be "easily longer than 20 feet". There were also residents that proposed the measurement 25 feet, which is an outstanding size since the largest crocodile ever lived was Lolong ( 20 ft 3 in); which died in captivity on February 2013.
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| clearlyexplained.com |
A lot of facts collected regarding Gustave has no solid proof and are taken on an oral basis. For example, the residents mentioned seeing three bullet scars on his body and a deep wound on his right shoulder blade. His uncommon size and weight prevents him from hunting the crocodile's usual, agile diet such as fishes, antelopes and zebras. Because of this incapacity, Gustave had to prey on animals like hippopotamus, large wildebeest and to some extent, humans.
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| Usual Diet of Crocodiles (livescience.com & animaliaz-life.com) |
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| Gustave's Diet (www.sundestinations.co.za & digipraim.com) |
Attempts of capturing Gustave were made by Patrice Faye and his team of scientists under a period of two months. The first attempt included a trap cage weighing a tonne (1000 kg) and reaching a length of 9 meters being installed near Gustave's usual location. They placed a hidden infrared camera inside the cage to be able to document the attempt even without visible light. Several baits were used but none of them attracted Gustave nor any other animals.
Then, they decided to install three giant snares on strategic banks and locations. Smaller crocodiles were captured but unfortunately, none of them were Gustave. The last week before the end of 2 months, they placed a live goat in a cage to draw Gustave into the trap. One night, the infrared camera had failed due to the stormy weather and the water level rose up higher than usual. The next morning, the cage was partially submerged into the river and the goat had disappeared. Nobody knew whether Gustave or any other crocodile had taken the live goat and ran away.
The last reported sightings of Gustave was on June 2015 where a resident claimed that Gustave dragged an adult bull buffalo into the river.
Gustave may still be alive, and he's highly likely to still be after all the threats and traps he endured. But the question is... where is he now?
