“The saltwater crocodile is the one animal that has the capacity to frighten even Australians. People who would calmly flick a scorpion off their forearm or chuckle fearlessly at a pack of skulking dingos will quake at the sight of a hungry croc.”

-Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country

I was looking forward to my encounter with the world’s largest reptile in Queensland on a Daintree River cruise. I just hope it will not be a close encounter!

Australian wildlife has the capacity to kill. Even a cone snail can kill a human! Oz is home to 213 venomous snakes. That is more venomous snakes than anywhere else in the world.

Australia is also home to the Murder bird, a small venomous octopus, the world’s most deadly spider (Sydney funnel-web), stonefish, box jellyfish, the common death adder, the blue bottle, the bull, tiger, and great white shark, and many others.

But as Bill Bryson notes, there is one deadly animal that rises above all others: the saltwater crocodile.

This apex predator sometimes sees humans as prey. In Australia from 1971 to 2013, saltwater creatures crocs killed 106 people. On average there are about 2 fatal attacks per year.

In order to sketch a croc I ordered a model to help me sketch. This way I could sketch it from any angle such as from above.