Meeting the World's Largest Crocodile! (Green Island, Australia)

Do you remember Lolong? He was captured back in 2012 in Mindanao and was declared the largest crocodile in captivity. The Guinness record was previously held by Cassius, a 5.48-meter crocodile being cared for at Marineland Melanesia on Green Island, off the coast of Cairns in Queensland, Australia. Well, after Lolong died in 2013, the record reverted back to Cassius. And we were able to meet him!

I've always been fascinated with reptiles like snakes and crocodiles even if I'm deathly scared of them. When we visited Green Island in the Great Barrier Reef, I found out that there was a crocodile zoo and I really wanted to see it. I mean we were in Australia after all, and I wanted to see some crocs!

Marineland Melanesia is a unique attraction on Green Island. It's home to over 50 crocodiles, marine aquariums with coral, fish, giant sea turtles, and a magnificent range of tribal carvings.

And it is also home to Cassius - the current largest crocodile in captivity!

We got there just in time for the feeding show. And we got to meet all the other crocodiles living there too.

Bulla and Bella were our favorite since they were a couple. They actually have a baby which was in another enclosure.

They looked like statues! As in Bella's mouth was just open like that the whole time.

Then the feeding show started. It was so cool seeing the crocodiles snap their jaws and jump out of the water!

Then we headed over to meet Cassius...

I don't think you can see how BIG he really is from these photos, but trust me, he was huge! He's over 17 feet long and I couldn't believe he was just inches away from us!

Here's a photo of him in a newspaper article, and you can see his size compared to a person.

Because he's more than a hundred years old already, he's not as quick as before. So he was just moving his head to get the food. But you could tell how powerful he still is with the way his jaws sounded chomping the meat. It was just amazing seeing this massive creature before us!

There were a lot of other displays too like the skin of Oscar, one of the other huge crocs they had before. The kids were pretty freaked out about this though. ;p

There were so many interesting articles, photos, and clippings about the crocs, like the photo below which was when they captured Oscar, along with 2 other crocodiles. Can you imagine being on the boat with these creatures?!

Aside from the crocodiles, there were also aquariums and giant sea turtles.

Marineland is also home to one of the world's most extensive collections of Tribal Art which were brought all the way from Papua New Guinea. It just made you feel like you were another world altogether. I just kept thinking, don't touch anything, there might be spirits within these artifacts!

Their aquariums also showcase a diverse range of marine life and other unique creatures.

It was one of the highlights of our day, and until now the kids remember all the info they learned from the croc feeders. So glad we met Cassius and hope he lives for many more years to come. ;p


Website: www.greenislandcrocs.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marinelandgreenisland
Marineland Melanesia Entry Prices:
- Adults: $19
- Child (5 – 14): $9
- Kids under 5 free with an accompanying adult 
(prices valid to 31 March 2018)