This is why crocodiles react to children crying

Babies’ cries can trigger a predatory response

They played recordings in a crocodile facility

More urgent responses with highly stressed cries

An abundant species in the cradle of human civilization

Some crocodiles may have acted out of parental concern

Predator or protector?

When crocodiles hear human infants crying, they react quickly, research published in 2023 showed. Either because they recognize it as a cry for help or because it sounds like an easy dinner alarm…

Babies’ cries can trigger a predatory response

The study, published in ‘Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences’, showed that human infants’ cries can trigger a predatory response from the hungry reptiles.

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Maternal instinct

However, the researchers also concluded that some female crocs may respond because the cries appeal to their maternal instinct, ‘the Smithsonian’ magazine reported.

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Different levels of infants in distress

The team of bioacoustics researchers at the University of Saint-Etienne in France who carried out the study, tested the crocodile reactions to recordings of infants crying in different levels of distress: from bath time to vaccination.

They played recordings in a crocodile facility

The researchers then ventured to CrocoParc in Morocco, an outdoor facility with more than 300 Nile crocodiles and played the recordings on speakers, ‘Science’ reported.

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More urgent responses with highly stressed cries

The research team noted that most crocodiles responded to the cries and that responses tended to be more urgent when hearing highly stressed cries.

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A danger to our ancestors

The fact that crocodiles are so attuned to the cries of human babies in distress may mean that they have been listening to such calls for a very long time, posing a danger to our ancestors throughout evolution, experts suggest.

An abundant species in the cradle of human civilization

“The Nile crocodile was indeed an abundant species in the African cradle where the human lineage developed,” the authors write.

Some crocodiles may have acted out of parental concern

Still, it’s possible that some of the crocodiles were acting out of parental concern, rather than blood lust, the researchers told ‘Science’.

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A protective gesture

Notably, one croc, presumably a female, after heading to the speaker from which infant cries were emanating, suddenly turned around and faced others who had responded, similar to the way a mother would respond when protecting her young, the researchers noted.

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