A fibreglass cast of Sweetheart, a grumpy crocodile who disliked outboard motors, will be the centrepiece of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisations exhibit at the Royal Easter Show this year.
The cast of the five-metre croc is on loan to ANSTO from the Northern Territory Museum. Sweetheart gained notoriety in the Northern Territory in the 1970s when he attacked outboard motors on fishing boats on the Finniss River, about 100 kilometres south of Darwin.
He tragically drowned when rangers trapped him in a bid to move him from busy fishing spots and the noisy boats that agitated him.
Sweethearts skeletal remains are providing ANSTO scientists with insights into heavy metal levels in crocodiles.
The scientists are measuring metal levels in samples of osteoderm the prominent bones in the skin of crocodiles that give their backs their characteristic corrugations. Osteoderms are vestiges of the crocodiles dinosaur ancestry.
The bones develop annual growth laminations, much like tree rings. Samples from the older crocs enable scientists to track changes in metal concentration over several decades. This enables them to find out if the animals face any new environmental risks.
ANSTOs environmental research will be highlighted in its exhibit at the show this year. Dr Ross Jeffree, of ANSTOs Environment Division, will be on hand to brief media on the crocodile research.
