Sticking your hand down a crocodile’s mouth isn’t the brightest idea, unless of course you’re studying their salt glands.
University of Queensland ecophysiology honours student Inga de Vries has examined the tongues of 10 young saltwater crocodiles in as many months.
The crocodiles are under a metre long but their jaws still have enough pressure to cause some damage.
“You still wouldn’t want them to latch on to you,” Miss de Vries said.
Little is known about how crocodile salt glands work but Miss de Vries is trying to find out more.
She said most saltwater crocodiles had between 20 and 40 pores on the surface of their tongue which led to individual salt glands.
These glands allow the crocodile to live in fresh and salt water as they remove excess salt from their system, leaving a salty secretion on the crocodile’s tongue which is washed away.
Miss de Vries puts a laser sensor into the crocodile’s mouth to measure blood flow in the tongue and also a swab to collect the salt secretions.
Her results show that blood flow through the glands increases when the crocodile secretes, indicating that blood flow may play a role in secretion.
The 22-year-old from Seventeen Mile Rocks said scientists has documented similar salt glands in birds.
But she said no one had measured the blood flow of crocodile salt glands before and her research would lead to more of an understanding about the animal.
“When the salt glands are exposed to excess salt their capacity for blood flow increases which suggests that blood flow plays a role in controlling salt removal.”
MEDIA: Inga de Vries (0421 725 634), Professor Craig Franklin (3365 2355) or Miguel Holland at UQ (3365 2619)
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