Sweetheart was the name given to a male

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

(''Crocodylus porosus'') which

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

folk legend claims was responsible for a series of attacks on boats in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the 1970s.

History

Sweetheart first rose to prominence around 1974 and was dubbed by locals as the "heavyweight champion" of Sweets Billabong—where he gets his name—in the Northern Territory's Finniss River, south west of Darwin. He frequently attacked outboard motors, dinghies, and fishing boats, but there is no known case of his attacking humans. In July 1979, Sweetheart was finally caught alive by a team from the Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission due to fears for human safety, but died while being transported when he became tangled with a log. The cause of death was later attributed to a slow drowning, probably due to being tranquilised with the sedative

Flaxedil Gallamine triethiodide (Flaxedil) is a non-depolarising muscle relaxant. It acts by combining with the cholinergic receptor sites in muscle and competitively blocking the transmitter action of acetylcholine. Gallamine is a non-depolarising type ...

. The crocodile's mounted body was prepared for an Australian tour by Ian Archibald and eventually placed on permanent display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. The story of Sweetheart was interpreted with considerable artistic licence by filmmaker Greg McLean in his 2007 creature feature '' Rogue,'' starring Michael Vartan, Sam Worthington and Radha Mitchell. Sweetheart's dimensions were expanded by two metres in the film, which saw

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning creature designer John Cox win an AFI Award for his construction of the crocodile used on screen.

References

1979 animal deaths Individual crocodiles Individual animals in Australia Individual wild animals
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History

See also

References