A book on Crocodile Hunting in Africa...

[Jon Davidson 0]

I'm new here on this site so I hope that the members will please excuse me for not speaking(or writing)French. I have so few French language books in my library; but I do have one which might be of possible interest to those who like Crocodilians. The book is entitled: 'Ngandu Mabe, L'enfer des Crocodilles' by Freddy Bolier and published by Flammarion, France in 1963( 233 pages with maps and black and white photographs. No ISBN number.). The book details crocodile hunting in the Congo, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa in and around the late 1950's. Aside from the descriptions of Life in the jungle in what was then and may still now be a remote area of Africa, the book contains some interesting photographs of big Nile Crocodiles(Crocodylus niloticus) and the smaller African Slender- snouted Crocodile(Crocodylus cataphractus)which are referred to in the book as 'gavials'. An interesting book that should still be available on the secondary book market(such as abebooks.com) Sincerely, Jon Davidson .

[Marc Dubois 0]

I prefer ''crocodile protection'' over ''crocodile hunting''

I know it's a old book (1963), older than me and its surprising to see how many ''big crocs'' have been killed by those years !!

Thanks Jon for the link!

I'm a crocodilians addict and BTW welcome here Jon

[Jon Davidson 0]

Bonjour et Merci, Monsier Dubois, du le tes bienvenue. Merci aussi de parlar en anglais. Je volonte parlar vers vous dans anglais(I think that might be enough of me attempting to speak/write French for the evening). I too prefer Crocodilian conservation over Crocodilan hunting; although in my view, some of these old books can be useful for their 'historical' photography and descriptions of large and or seldom seen species, such as Crocodylus cataphractus, in the book by Mr. Freddy Boller(I misspelled his last name in the original post). I have about a dozen or so of these old Crocodile hunting books from the 1950's and 60's that I've picked up at garage sales, dollar stores and the 'seconds' bins at used book stores over the years. Many of them have interesting photographs of habitats and Crocs even though, sadly, most are brutal and savage in their view(and treatment)of these Reptiles. Good to know that there is fellow Croc enthusiast on the site! And again, Thank you Mr. Dubois for your welcome. Sincerely, Jon Davidson .

[Marc Dubois 0]

Your french it's not so bad mr. Jon

Jon Davidson a écrit:

I too prefer Crocodilian conservation over Crocodilan hunting; although in my view, some of these old books can be useful for their 'historical' photography and descriptions of large and or seldom seen species, such as Crocodylus cataphractus, in the book by Mr. Freddy Boller(I misspelled his last name in the original post).

I agree with that.


About the Crocodylus cataphractus, you probably know the ''proposal'' change of the genus name by some authors for Mecistops after DNA research was made ?

Actually there are no official change about that, but i think its a mather of time...

[Jon Davidson 0]

Marc Dubois a écrit:

Your french it's not so bad mr. Jon

Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Dubois. Obviously, I don't speak French, although I will do the best that I can in limited amounts. I certainly don't wish to be some new anglais guy going around the site brutalizing the often times quite beautiful French language. On the other hand, as an immigrant here, it's up to me to learn the language, especially since we have been very graciously invited by Mr. Justin to enjoy the Freedom here that we were not allowed on that other Reptile web site. The proposal to resurrect an historic genus of Mecistops for Crocodylus catatphractus was published recently in the Journal: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution; 39(2006), pps: 16-32,(Are crocodiles really monophyletic? - Evidence for subdivisions from sequence and morphological data) by L.R. McAliley, R.E. Willis, D.A. Ray, P.S. White, C.A. Brochu and L.D. Densmore 111; based on mitochondrial DNA. Although, as in the recent similiar studies on the phylogenetic alignment of the Tomistoma in relation to the Gharial, molecular data appears to be at odds with the morphological data. It's interesting to me that there can be a distinction between molecular evolution and anatomical evolution. One might wonder how well accepted the proposed change will be since the name Crocodylus cataphractus is historically well established(Crocodylus cataphractus Cuvier 1825). There certainly is a focus on Crocodilian phylogenetics lately and it's good to see that at least some people find the beasts interesting beyond their value as high end fashion leather goods. What have you been reading lately on Crocs, Monsieur Dubois? The recent books by Surrey Beatty and Sons(Publishing company)are quite good. Sincerely, Jon Davidson .

[Marc Dubois 0]

Jon Davidson a écrit:

What have you been reading lately on Crocs, Monsieur Dubois?

Actually i don't have any recent books on crocodilians but i go regulary on this web site:

The Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG)

http://iucncsg.org/ph1/modules/Home/

and you have acces to the PDF format of the CSG news letters:

http://iucncsg.org/ph1/modules/Publications/newsletter.html

You can subscribe for the printed version for $40 US / year.



and this web site too:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/cnhc.html


You probably know those web site ?

Citation :

The recent books by Surrey Beatty and Sons(Publishing company)are quite good

I'll looking for this book in a near futur, thanks Jon

[Jon Davidson 0]

Marc Dubois a écrit:

You probably know those web site ?

Yes, I do, Monsieur Dubois, which are some of the best 'Croc' sites on the web. It's good to see the links posted here. Do you know: www.crocodopolis.net ? ; and : www.reptile-database.org ? ; which is also a good 'Croc' resourse. Sincerely, Jon Davidson .

[Marc Dubois 0]

Jon Davidson a écrit:

www.crocodopolis.net

I did not know this web site, thanks for the link !


I use reptile-database for the recent change in taxonomy.